DsJ(2317)meson production in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions

Abstract

Production of ${D}_{\mathit{sJ}}(2317)$ mesons in relativistic heavy ion collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider is studied. Using the quark coalescence model, we first determine the initial number of ${D}_{\mathit{sJ}}(2317)$ mesons produced during hadronization of created quark-gluon plasma. The predicted ${D}_{\mathit{sJ}}(2317)$ abundance depends sensitively on the quark structure of the ${D}_{\mathit{sJ}}(2317)$ meson. An order-of-magnitude larger yield is obtained for a conventional two-quark than for an exotic four-quark ${D}_{\mathit{sJ}}(2317)$ meson. To include the hadronic effect on the ${D}_{\mathit{sJ}}(2317)$ meson yield requires the absorption cross sections of the ${D}_{\mathit{sJ}}(2317)$ meson by pions, \ensuremath{\rho} mesons, anti-kaons, and vector anti-kaons, which we have evaluated in a phenomenological model. Taking into consideration the absorption and production of ${D}_{\mathit{sJ}}(2317)$ mesons during the hadronic stage of heavy ion collisions via a kinetic model, we find that the final yield of ${D}_{\mathit{sJ}}(2317)$ mesons remains sensitive to its initial number produced from the quark-gluon plasma, providing thus the possibility of studying the quark structure of the ${D}_{\mathit{sJ}}(2317)$ meson and its production mechanism in relativistic heavy ion collisions.