Intrinsic charm and the 𝐷 + − 𝐷 − asymmetry produced in proton-proton collisions
We investigate the contribution of the charm-anticharm (𝑐$\overline{𝑐}$) asymmetry of the proton eigenstate obtained from QCD lattice gauge to the asymmetry of 𝐷 + , 𝐷 − and 𝐷 0 , $\overline{𝐷}$ 0 mesons produced in 𝑝𝑝 collisions at large Feynman variables 𝑥. It is shown that an important tool for establishing the intrinsic charm (IC) content of the proton is the charm hadron-antihadron asymmetry formed in 𝑝𝑝 collisions. Predictions for the asymmetry as a function of 𝑥 for different IC probabilities are presented. We show that the interference of the intrinsic |𝑢𝑢𝑑𝑐$\overline{𝑐}$⟩ Fock state with the standard contribution from the perturbative QCD evolution leads to a large 𝐷 + 𝐷 − asymmetry at large Feynman 𝑥.