We calculate the next-to-leading-order cross section for the inclusive production of $D^{*\pm }$ mesons in $p\overline{p}$ collisions as a function of the transverse momentum and the rapidity in two approaches using massive or massless charm quarks. For the inclusive cross section, we derive the massless limit from the massive theory. We find that this limit differs from the genuine massless version with $\overline{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}}$ (minimal-subtraction) factorization by finite corrections. By adjusting subtraction terms, we establish a massive theory with $\overline{\mathrm{M}\mathrm{S}}$ subtraction which approaches the massless theory with increasing transverse momentum. With these results and including the contributions due to the charm and anticharm content of the proton and antiproton, we calculate the inclusive $D^{*\pm }$ cross section in $p\overline{p}$ collisions using realistic evolved nonperturbative fragmentation functions and compare with recent data from the CDF Collaboration at the Fermilab Tevatron at center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{S}=1.96\mathrm{T}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}$. We find reasonable, though not perfect, agreement with the measured cross sections.

• Received 21 October 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.71.014018