Renormalization and factorization scale analysis of bb production in antiproton - proton collisions

There a sizable and systematic discrepancy between experimental data on the bb production in pp, γp and γγ collisions and existing theoretical calculations within perturbative QCD. Before interpreting this discrepancy as a signal of new physics, it is important to understand quantitatively the ambiguities of conventional calculations. In this paper the uncertainty coming from renormalization and factorization scale dependence of finite order perturbation calculations of the total cross section of bb production in pp collisions is discussed in detail. It is shown that the mentioned discrepancy is reduced significantly if these scales are fixed via the Principle of Minimal Sensitivity.