CALCULATIONS OF PROMPT-PHOTON PRODUCTION IN QCD

Cross sections for prompt-photon production at collider energies are not strictly inclusive because an isolation requirement is imposed whereby the photon is detected only if accompanied by a restricted amount of hadronic energy. In this paper we provide a consistent treatment of the isolated prompt-photon cross section in QCD pertubation theory. The isolation requirement reduces sensitivity of the cross section to poorly known long-distance fragmentation contributions. However, the normal cancellation of infrared singularities is upset by the isolation cutoffs, rendering the short-distance perturbative calculation highly nontrivial. In our solution we address both the short- and the long-distance issues in detail, showing that well-behaved predictions can be derived for a wide range of isolation parameters. Calculated cross sections are presented at several energies and scale dependence of the cross section is examined.