  An unresolved problem in J/psi phenomenology is a systematic understanding of
the differential photoproduction cross section, dsigma/dz [gamma + p -> J/psi +
X], where z= E_psi/E_gamma in the proton rest frame. In the non-relativistic
QCD (NRQCD) factorization formalism, fixed-order perturbative calculations of
color-octet mechanisms suffer from large perturbative and nonperturbative
corrections that grow rapidly in the endpoint region, z -> 1. In this paper,
NRQCD and soft collinear effective theory are combined to resum these large
corrections to the color-octet photoproduction cross section. We derive a
factorization theorem for the endpoint differential cross section involving the
parton distribution function and the color-octet J/psi shape functions. A one
loop matching calculation explicitly confirms our factorization theorem at
next-to-leading order. Large perturbative corrections are resummed using the
renormalization group. The calculation of the color-octet contribution to
dsigma/dz is in qualitative agreement with data. Quantitative tests of the
universality of color-octet matrix elements require improved knowledge of shape
functions entering these calculations as well as resummation of the
color-singlet contribution which accounts for much of the total cross section
and also peaks near the endpoint.
