Radiative decays of the spin-$2$ partner of $X(3872)$

Abstract

It has been generally expected that the $X(3872)$ has a spin-2 partner, $X_2$, with quantum numbers $J^{PC}=2^{++}$. In the hadronic molecular model, its mass was predicted to be below the $D^*\bar D^*$ threshold, and the new structure reported in the $\gamma \psi(2S)$ invariant mass distribution by the Belle Collaboration with mass $M= (4014.3 \pm 4.0 \pm 1.5)$ MeV and decay width $\Gamma= (4 \pm 11 \pm 6)$ MeV, with a global significance of 2.8 $\sigma$, is a nice candidate for it. We consider the radiative decay widths for the $X_{2}\to \gamma\psi$ with $\psi=J/\psi, \psi(2S)$ treating the $X_2$ as a $D^*\bar{D}^*$ shallow bound state, and estimate the events of $X_2$ in two-photon collisions that can be collected in the $\gamma J/\psi\to\gamma\ell^+\ell^-$ ($\ell=e,\mu$) final states at Belle. Based on the upper limit for the ratio of decay widths of $X(3872)\to \gamma \psi(2S)$ and $X(3872)\to \gamma J/\psi$ measured by BESIII, we predict the similar ratio $\Gamma(X_2\to \gamma \psi(2S))/\Gamma(X_2\to \gamma J/\psi)$ to be smaller than $1.0$. We suggest searching for the $X_2$ signal in the $\gamma J/\psi$ invariant mass distribution via two-photon fusions. The results will lead to insights into both the $X(3872)$ and the new structure observed by Belle.