Induced fission-like process of hadronic molecular states

Abstract

In this work, we predict a new physical phenomenon, induced fission-like process and chain reaction of hadronic molecular states. As a molecular state, if induced by a $D$ meson, the $X(3872)$ can split into $D\bar{D}$ final state which is forbidden due to the spin-parity conservation. The breeding of the $D$ meson of the reaction, such as $D^0X(3872)\to D^0\bar{D}^0D^0$, makes the chain reaction of $X(3872)$ matter possible. We estimate the cross section of the $D$ meson induced fission-like process of $X(3872)$ into two $D$ mesons. With very small $D^0$ beam momentum of 1 eV, the total cross section reaches an order of 1000 b, and decreases rapidly with the increasing of beam momentum. With the transition of $D^*$ meson in molecular states to a $D$ meson, the $X(3872)$ can release large energy, which is acquired by the final mesons. The momentum distributions of the final $D$ mesons are analyzed. In the laboratory frame, the spectator $D$ meson in molecular state concentrates in the low momentum area. The energy from the transition frim $D^*$ to $D$ meson is mainly acquired by two scattered $D$ mesons. The results suggest that the $D$ meson environment will lead to the induced fission-like process and chain reaction of the $X(3827)$. Such phenomenon can be extended to other hadronic molecular states.