Charm Production Studies at CDF

The upgraded Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF II) has a high bandwidth available for track based triggers. This capability, in conjunction with an integrated luminosity in excess of 1 fb−1, enables detailed studies of charm hadron production. CDF is now releasing first measurements of the prompt charm meson pair cross-sections, which give access to QCD mechanisms by which charm quarks are produced in proton anti-proton collisions. Recent results on the spin alignment of J/ψ and ψ(2S) as well as on the relative production of the χc1(P1) and χc2(1P) challenge our understanding of the fragmentation of charm quarks into charmonium states.