%0 Electronic Article
%A Yang, Yewon
%A Geiser, Achim
%A Moch, Sven-Olaf
%A Zenaiev, Oleksandr
%T A novel phenomenological approach to total cross-section measurements at the LHC
%N DESY-25-091
%M PUBDB-2025-02016
%M DESY-25-091
%M arXiv:2506.22616
%D 2025
%Z This is *not* a CMS paper, but a phenomenology paper
%X We propose a novel, data-driven method for determining total charm cross sections in proton-proton collisions by extrapolating measured fiducial cross sections without assuming any particular fragmentation model. In this way, the method accounts for the recently observed charm fragmentation non-universality at the LHC through a data-driven extrapolation function called ddFONLL. Applied to D<sup>0</sup> production at 5 and 13 TeV, this approach yields total charm cross sections that fully incorporate fragmentation non-universality. The results, which differ significantly from previous universality-based estimates, are consistent with NNLO QCD predictions and enable direct comparisons free from fragmentation assumptions. We use this to evaluate the sensitivity of total cross-section measurements to parton distribution functions and the charm-quark mass. An outlook is given on the potential of further expanding the use of the ddFONLL method.
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)25
%9 Preprint
%R 10.3204/PUBDB-2025-02016
%U https://bib-pubdb1.desy.de/record/631504