Charm hadroproduction within kT-factorization approach

In the problem of describing heavy-quark production in high-energy hadron collisions, a comparison is made between the theoretical status and numerical predictions of two approaches, the traditional parton model in the leading order (LO) and the k(T)-factorization approach. Basic assumptions underlying relevant calculations are discussed. A very simple gluon structure function and a fixed coupling constant are chosen for the calculations in order to highlight distinctions associated with the use of nonidentical matrix elements in these two approaches. It is shown that, in the k(T)-factorization approach, formal LO calculations performed with allowance for the Sudakov farm factor include many terms usually treated as next-to-leading-order (NLO) contributions of the traditional parton model (or even contributions next to NLO ones, NNLO). (C) 2001 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".