Secondary Charmonium Production at LHC Energy

Abstract

We consider the production of charmonium by $D\bar D$ annihilation during the mixed and hadronic phase of Pb-Pb collision at LHC energy. The calculations for secondary $J/\psi$ and $\psi^,$ production are performed within a kinetic model taking into account the space-time evolution of a longitudinally and transversely expanding medium. It is shown that the yield of secondary $J/\psi$ mesons depends strongly on the $J/\psi$ dissociation cross section with co-moving hadrons. Within the most likely scenario for the dissociation cross section it will be negligible. The secondary production of $\psi^,$ mesons, however, due to their large cross section above the threshold, can substantially exceed the primary yield.