Elliptic anisotropy measurement of the f$_0$(980) hadron in proton-lead collisions and evidence for its quark-antiquark composition

The CMS collaboration Hayrapetyan, Aram ; Tumasyan, Armen ; Adam, Wolfgang ; et al.
Nature Commun. 16 (2025) 7990, 2025.
Inspire Record 2741119 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.146017

Despite the f$_0$(980) hadron having been discovered half a century ago, the question about its quark content has not been settled: it might be an ordinary quark-antiquark ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}}$) meson, a tetraquark ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}q\bar{q}}$) exotic state, a kaon-antikaon ($\mathrm{K\bar{K}}$) molecule, or a quark-antiquark-gluon ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}g}$) hybrid. This paper reports strong evidence that the f$_0$(980) state is an ordinary $\mathrm{q\bar{q}}$ meson, inferred from the scaling of elliptic anisotropies ($v_2$) with the number of constituent quarks ($n_\mathrm{q}$), as empirically established using conventional hadrons in relativistic heavy ion collisions. The f$_0$(980) state is reconstructed via its dominant decay channel f$_0$(980) $\to$$π^+π^-$, in proton-lead collisions recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC, and its $v_2$ is measured as a function of transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$). It is found that the $n_q$ = 2 ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}}$ state) hypothesis is favored over $n_q$ = 4 ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}q\bar{q}}$ or $\mathrm{K\bar{K}}$ states) by 7.7, 6.3, or 3.1 standard deviations in the $p_\mathrm{T}$$\lt$ 10, 8, or 6 GeV/$c$ ranges, respectively, and over $n_\mathrm{q}$ = 3 ($\mathrm{q\bar{q}g}$ hybrid state) by 3.5 standard deviations in the $p_\mathrm{T}$$\lt$ 8 GeV/$c$ range. This result represents the first determination of the quark content of the f$_0$(980) state, made possible by using a novel approach, and paves the way for similar studies of other exotic hadron candidates.

6 data tables

The elliptic flow, $v_{2}$, for $f_0(980)$ as a function of $p_{T}$ in pPb collision at 8.16 TeV.

The elliptic flow after nonflow subtraction, $v_{2}^{sub}$, for $f_0(980)$ as a function of $p_{T}$ in pPb collision at 8.16 TeV.

The elliptic flow after nonflow subtraction, $v_{2}^{sub}/2$, for $f_0(980)$ as a function of $<KE_{T}>/2$ in pPb collision at 8.16 TeV.

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ELECTROPRODUCTION OF ETA MESONS IN THE REGION OF THE RESONANCE S11 (1535) AT MOMENTUM TRANSFERS OF 2-GEV**2 AND 3-GEV**2

Brasse, F.W. ; Flauger, W. ; Gayler, Joerg ; et al.
Z.Phys.C 22 (1984) 33-38, 1984.
Inspire Record 203579 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.16229

We report on results of η-electroproduction in the resonance region at momentum transfers ofQ2=2 GeV2 and 3 GeV2. The differential cross sections obtained in the region of the second nucleon resonance strongly support the dominance of theS11(1535) in this channel. The total transverse virtual photoproduction cross section of theS11(1535) shows a flatQ2-dependence ∼e−0.39·Q2. Comparison with the total resonant γvp cross section in the second resonance region aroundW=1.5 GeV shows that theD13(1520) production decreases much faster (∼e−1.6·Q2). The data are not compatible with the simple harmonic oscillator quark model with spin and orbit excitation of a quark only.

23 data tables

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