J/ψ Polarization at the Tevatron and the LHC: Nonrelativistic-QCD Factorization at the Crossroads

We study the polarization observables of J/psi hadroproduction at next-to-leading order within the factorization formalism of nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics. We complete the present knowledge of the relativistic corrections by also providing the contribution due to the intermediate P-3(J)[8] color-octet states at this order, which turns out to be quite significant. Exploiting the color-octet long-distance matrix elements previously extracted through a global fit to experimental data of unpolarized J/psi production, we provide theoretical predictions in the helicity and Collins-Soper frames and compare them with data taken by CDF at Fermilab Tevatron I and II and by ALICE at CERN LHC. The notorious CDF J/psi polarization anomaly familiar from leading-order analyses persists at the quantum level, while the situation looks promising for the LHC, which is bound to bring final clarification.