| Precise experimental data on inclusive heavy quarkonium production at the Fermilab Tevatron provides a severe test of our understanding of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) in a regime that should be accessible to theoretical analysis. Recently there have been two breakthroughs in the theory of heavy quarkonium production: the importance of fragmentation contributions at large transverse momentum has been realized, and a rigorous factorization approach based on nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) has been developed. These innovations make it possible to systematically carry out a calculation of heavy quarkonium production that can be compared to experimental data.; In this dissertation, a complete theoretical description of inclusive charmonium production at large transverse momentum in pp colliders is presented. The calculation is carried out within the NRQCD factorization formalism, and the appropriate fragmentation contributions are included. Comparing the theoretical results to recent experimental data from the Tevatron, one finds good agreement. |
