Next-to-leading-order QCD study of $e^+e^- \to \eta_c + c\bar{c}$ at $B$ factories

Abstract

We study the process $e^+e^- \to \gamma^\ast \to \eta_c + c\bar{c} + X$ at next-to-leading order (NLO) in QCD within the framework of nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) factorization, retaining the color-singlet contribution at leading order in the heavy-quark relative velocity $v$. At the $e^+e^-$ collision energy $\sqrt{s} = 10.6~\mathrm{GeV}$, with $m_c = 1.5~\mathrm{GeV}$ and $\mu_R = 2m_c$, the direct cross section increases from $58.7~\mathrm{fb}$ at leading order (LO) to $118~\mathrm{fb}$ at NLO, corresponding to a $K$ factor of approximately $2.0$. Including the radiative feed-down contributions of the $J/\psi$ and $h_c(1P)$ states yields an estimated prompt production rate of $131~\mathrm{fb}$. The NLO corrections substantially enhance both the angular and momentum distributions, while the momentum spectrum retains a similar overall profile. These results establish an NLO color-singlet baseline for $\eta_c$ production associated with open charm at Belle II, complementary to studies of charmonium production in hadronic collisions.