Experimental estimation of the charm-production cross section in pp interactions at 70 GeV/c with the aid of the SVD setup

Charmed-particle production in pp interactions at 70 GeV/c was studied with the SVD setup at the IHEP accelerator (Protvino). The experimental procedure used and the data-selection methods are described. Data obtained by using a quickly cycling bubble chamber and a magnetic spectrometer are analyzed. The number of inelastic-interaction events recorded in the chamber is 109000, with the charge multiplicity being nch/4. The corresponding statistics are 4.96 event/µb. Part of the events were recorded in the magnetic spectrometer. Three three-prong decays of charged particles near the primary vertex are found on the films, two of these being recorded with the spectrometer. All three are interpreted as D− decays. Two neutral decays observed simultaneously in the chamber and in the spectrometer are interpreted as \(\bar D^0 \) decays. The total cross section for \(c\bar c\) production in the Feynman variable region −1D mesons are compared with other experimental results in the energy range 58–800 GeV. The data of this experiment are compatible with the cross-section estimates obtained in the beam-dump experiment at 70 GeV and with those predicted by perturbative QCD.