Forming molecular states with hadronic rescattering

A method for modelling the prompt production of molecular states using the hadronic rescattering framework of the general-purpose Pythia event generator is introduced. Production cross sections of possible exotic hadronic molecules via hadronic rescattering at the LHC are calculated for the chi(c1)(3872) resonance, a possible tetraquark state, as well as three possible pentaquark states, P-c(+) (4312), P-c(+)(4440), and P-c(+)(4457). For the P-c(+) states, the expected cross section from Lambda(b) decays is compared to the hadronic rescattering production. The chi(c1)(3872) cross section is compared to the fiducial chi(c1)(3872) cross-section measurement by LHCb and found to contribute at a level of O (1%). Finally, the expected yields of P-c(+) production from hadronic rescattering during Run 3 of LHCb are estimated. The prompt background is found to be significantly larger than the prompt P-c(+) signal from hadronic rescattering.

Automated summary

This paper introduces a method for modelling the prompt production of molecular states using the hadronic rescattering framework and calculates the production cross sections of possible exotic hadronic molecules at the LHC. By comparing with experimental results, it is found that the contribution of hadronic rescattering can be negligible in some cases. Finally, the expected yields of prompt production of hadronic molecules through hadronic rescattering in future experiments are estimated.