arXiv · 2605.31527
Accessing Exotic Hadronic States via Charmed-Meson Femtoscopy in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions
Abstract
The two-particle correlation function measured in femtoscopic analyses provides access to the interaction potentials between emitted particles. This offers a unique opportunity to investigate interactions among charmed mesons and to explore the nature of possible exotic hadronic states. In this Letter, we study femtoscopic correlations of various charmed-meson pairs in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The dynamical evolution of the system and charm hadron production are described within the Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach, while the correlation functions are computed using the Correlation Analysis Tool using the Schr\"odinger equation (CATS). We demonstrate that heavy-ion collisions provide a significantly more favorable environment than $pp$ collisions for accessing charmed meson femtoscopic correlations. This arises from enhanced charm-quark production, reduced relative momenta due to in-medium energy loss, and a strong suppression of initial-state correlations. Our results indicate that femtoscopic measurements in heavy-ion collisions offer a sensitive probe of charmed meson interactions and possible hadronic molecular states.
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Jiaxing Zhao, Taesoo Song, Elena Bratkovskaya, Joerg Aichelin. 2026-05-29. Accessing Exotic Hadronic States via Charmed-Meson Femtoscopy in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.31527
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