https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-13161-2
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Revealing the mystery of the double charm tetraquark in pp collision
1
Key Laboratory of Atomic and Subatomic Structure and Quantum Control (MOE), Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Structure and Fundamental Interactions of Matter, Institute of Quantum Matter, South China Normal University, 510006, Guangzhou, China
2
Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Quantum Matter, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nuclear Science, Southern Nuclear Science Computing Center, South China Normal University, 510006, Guangzhou, China
3
Southern Center for Nuclear-Science Theory (SCNT), Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 516000, Huizhou, Guangdong, China
4
Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China
5
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China
6
CAS Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190, Beijing, China
Received:
17
April
2024
Accepted:
23
July
2024
Published online:
12
August
2024
A novel approach is proposed to probe the nature of the double charm tetraquark through the prompt production asymmetry between and in pp collisions. When comparing two theoretical pictures, i.e. the compact tetraquark and hadronic molecular pictures, we find that the former one exhibits a significantly larger production asymmetry, enabling the unambiguous determination of the tetraquark’s internal structure. Additionally, distinctive differences in the transverse momentum and rapidity distributions of and cross sections emerge, particularly at and at a center-of-mass energy of 14. The insignificant asymmetry in hadronic molecular picture is because that hadronic molecules are produced in hadronic phase, where the phase space of their constituents needs to be taken into account rigorously. Our work can be extended to the exploration of other double heavy tetraquark candidates, offering a versatile approach to advance our understanding of exotic hadrons.
Yi-Yao Li Co-first author.
© The Author(s) 2024
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