Exotic Hybrid Mesons Research Articles

Exploring Photoproduction with the GlueX Experiment

The GlueX experiment at Jefferson Lab (Newport News, VA USA) is designed to explore the spectrum of mesons up to about 3 GeV. We present results on the production of light-quark resonances with linearly polarized photons. These results enhance our understanding of photoproduction mechanisms, which is valuable in subsequent searches for exotic hybrid mesons. Measurements of the J/ψ photoproduction cross section at threshold are also presented.

Latest results from GlueX

The GlueX experiment is housed in the newest experimental hall at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia. It was successfully commissioned in 2015 and is in its third year of data taking. GlueX uses a 12 GeV electron beam incident on a diamond radiator, producing a linearly polarized, coherent Bremsstrahlung photon beam. The ultimate goal of GlueX is to search for exotic hybrid mesons (e.g. qq̄g), with either exotic or conventional quantum numbers, whose existence, or lack thereof, would allow for the exploration of the gluon-gluon coupling present in QCD through the manifestation of hadrons with gluonic degrees of freedom. Photo-production at these energies is fairly unexplored and the linear beam polarization allows GlueX to discriminate between various production mechanisms which may be an effective way to identify such exotic hybrid mesons. In addition to exotic mesons, GlueX will also be poised to map out the conventional meson spectrum and to study the spectrum of excited vector mesons, which are often poorly understood. In these proceedings, we will present an overview of the GlueX experiment, its goals, current physics results, and future plans.

The hybrid mesons quest: the MesonEx experiment at Jefferson Laboratory

The meson spectroscopy plays nowadays a central role in the investigation of hadron structure thanks to the possible existence of exotic hybrid mesons, quark-antiquark-gluon bound states. Their explicit gluonic degrees of freedom which should clearly emerge from a Partial Wave Analysis (PWA) of the corresponding Dalitz plot of the exotic particle decay, may result in final JPC configurations not allowed in the constituent quark model. Besides this clear signature, hybrid mesons are also expected to have a large particle multiplicity decays, requiring for their search an experimental apparatus with high performances in terms of rate capability, resolution and almost a full acceptance to apply PWA methods. New-generation experiments are planned at Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory (VA, USA) for which an unprecedented statistics of large multiplicity decay events with fully reconstructed kinematics will be available. In particular for the MesonEx (CLAS12) experiment in Hall B, a wide scientific program that will start in 2016 has been deployed to study the meson spectrum at energies up to 11 GeV. A key role in such program is played by the Forward Tagger apparatus of the experiment, which will allow to extend the study of meson electro-production to very low Q2 values, in a quasi-real photo production kinematical region, where the production of hybrid mesons is expected to be favorite. Currently a new analysis framework for the search of the hybrid mesons is being set up by the HASPECT network, an international structure which gather people involved into theoretical and experimental hadronic physics all over the world. The goals of the network is to develop new analysis models and statistical techniques to unfold the signal and background distributions in high-statistics datasets. In this work are briefly presented the first preliminary results from the application of a statistical technique, namely the sPlot, to the data already acquired by the CLAS experiment for the decay f1 (1285) → (η)π+ π-.

Detector development for Jefferson Lab’s 12 GeV Upgrade

Jefferson Lab will soon finish its highly anticipated 12GeV Upgrade. With doubled maximum energy, Jefferson Lab’s Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) will enable a new experimental program with substantial discovery potential, addressing important topics in nuclear, hadronic and electroweak physics. In order to take full advantage of the high energy, high luminosity beam, new detectors are being developed, designed and constructed to fit the needs of different physics topics. The paper will give an overview of various new detector technologies to be used for 12GeV experiments. It will then focus on the development of two solenoid-based spectrometers, the GlueX and SoLID spectrometers. The GlueX experiment in Hall D will study the complex properties of gluons through exotic hybrid meson spectroscopy. The GlueX spectrometer, a hermetic detector package designed for spectroscopy and the associated partial wave analysis, is currently in the final stage of construction. Hall A, on the other hand, is developing the SoLID spectrometer to capture the 3D image of the nucleon from semi-inclusive processes and to study the intrinsic properties of quarks through mirror symmetry breaking. Such a spectrometer will have the capability to handle very high event rates while still maintaining a large acceptance in the forward region.

The Meson Spectroscopy Program at the Jefferson Laboratory

The experimental techniques that will be applied by the next generation meson spectroscopy experiments at JLab are described. For the first time, these experiments will be able to exploit the features of a photon beam of unprecedented intensity and momentum resolution, that will allow to perform precision studies of meson states with masses below 3 GeV/c2. Photon induced reactions will enhance the production of spin-1 mesons, that are of particular interest according to the most recent Lattice QCD calculations of the lightest exotic hybrid meson.

Exotic Hybrid Meson Spectroscopy with the GlueX detector at JLab

The GlueX experiment[1] is scheduled to begin taking data in 2015. The goal is to discover evidence for the existence of exotic hybrid mesons and to map out their spectrum in the light quark sector. Recent theoretical developments using Lattice QCD [2] predict exotic hybrid states in a mass range accessible using the newly upgraded 12GeV electron accelerator at Jefferson Lab. Hybrid mesons, and in particular exotic hybrid mesons, provide the ideal laboratory for testing QCD in the confinement regime since these mesons explicitly manifest the gluonic degrees of freedom. The experiment will use 9 GeV linearly polarized photons produced via coherent Bremsstrahlung to produce the exotic hybrids. The decay products will be detected in the solenoid-based GlueX detector currently under construction at Jefferson Lab. The status of the GlueX experiment including detector parameters will be presented along with theoretical motivation for the experiment.

GlueX: Photoproduction of Hybrid Mesons

The goal of the GlueX experiment is to provide critical data to help understand the soft gluonic field responsible for binding quarks in hadrons. Hybrid mesons, and in particular exotic hybrid mesons, provide the ideal laboratory for testing QCD in the confinement regime since these mesons explicitly manifest the gluonic degrees of freedom. Photoproduction is expected to be particularly effective in producing exotic hybrids but there is little data on the photoproduction of light mesons. GlueX will use the new 12-GeV electron beam to produce a 9-GeV beam of linearly polarized photons using the technique of coherent bremsstrahlung. A solenoid-based hermetic detector is under construction, which will be used to collect data on meson production and decays. These data will also be used to study the spectrum of conventional mesons, including the poorly understood excited vector mesons. This talk will describe the latest theoretical developments to help understand how the data of hybrid mesons can provide insights into the fundamental theory of strong interactions.

Experimental Status of Exotic Mesons and the GlueX Experiment

One of the unanswered and most fundamental questions in physics regards the nature of the confinement mechanism of quarks and gluons in QCD. Exotic hybrid mesons manifest gluonic degrees of freedom and their spectroscopy will provide the data necessary to test assumptions in lattice QCD and the specific phenomenology leading to confinement. Within the past two decades a number of experiments have put forth tantalizing evidence for the existence of exotic hybrid mesons in the mass range below 2 GeV. This talk represents an overview of the available data and what has been learned. In looking toward the future, the GlueX experiment at Jefferson Laboratory represents a new initiative that will perform detailed spectroscopy of the light-quark meson spectrum. This experiment and its capabilities will be reviewed.

On exotic hybrid meson production in γ*γ collisions

We present a theoretical study of exotic hybrid meson (JPC=1- +) production in photon-photon collisions where one of the photons is deeply virtual, including twist two and twist three contributions. We calculate the cross section of this process, which turns out to be large enough to imply sizeable counting rates in the present high luminosity electron–positron colliders. We emphasize the importance of the πη decay channel for the detection of the hybrid meson candidate π1(1400) and calculate the cross section and the angular distribution for π η pair production in the unpolarized case. This angular distribution is a useful tool for disentangling the hybrid meson signal from the background. Finally, we calculate the single spin asymmetry associated with one initial longitudinally polarized lepton.

πη pair hard electroproduction and exotic hybrid mesons

We show that hard electroproduction is a promising way to study exotic hybrid mesons, in particular through the hybrid decay channel H → π η . We discuss the πη generalized distribution amplitude, calculate the production amplitude and propose a forward-backward asymmetry as a signal for the hybrid meson production.

Exotic hybrid mesons in hard electroproduction

We estimate the sizeable cross section for deep exclusive electroproduction of an exotic $J^{PC}=1^{-+}$ hybrid meson in the Bjorken regime. The production amplitude scales like the one for usual meson electroproduction, i.e. as $1/Q^2$. This is due to the non-vanishing leading twist distribution amplitude for the hybrid meson, which may be normalized thanks to its relation to the energy momentum tensor and to the QCD sum rules technique. The hard amplitude is considered up to next-to-leading order in $\alpha_{S}$ and we explore the consequences of fixing the renormalization scale ambiguity through the BLM procedure. We study the particular case where the hybrid meson decays through a $\pi\eta $ meson pair. We discuss the $\pi\eta$ generalized distribution amplitude and then calculate the production amplitude for this process. We propose a forward-backward asymmetry in the production of $\pi$ and $\eta$ mesons as a signal for the hybrid meson production. We briefly comment on hybrid electroproduction at very high energy, in the diffractive limit where a QCD Odderon exchange mechanism should dominate. The conclusion of our study is that hard electroproduction is a promissing way to study exotic hybrid mesons, in particular at JLAB, HERA (HERMES) or CERN (Compass).

Selection rules forJPCexotic hybrid meson decay in largeNc

The coupling of a neutral hybrid {1,3,5...}^-+ exotic particle (or current) to two neutral (hybrid) meson particles with the same J^PC and J=0 is proved to be sub-leading to the usual large-N_c QCD counting. The coupling of the same exotic particle to certain two - (hybrid) meson currents with the same J^PC and J=0 is also sub-leading. The decay of a {1,3,5...}^-+ hybrid to eta pi^0, eta' pi^0, eta' eta, eta(1295) pi^0, pi(1300)^0 pi0, eta(1440) pi^0, a_0(980)^0 sigma or f_0(980) sigma is sub-leading, assuming that these final state particles are (hybrid) mesons in the limit of large N_c.

Deep electroproduction of exotic hybrid mesons

We evaluate the leading order amplitude for the deep exclusive electroproduction of an exotic hybrid meson in the Bjorken regime. We show that, contrary to naive expectation, this amplitude factorizes at the twist 2 level and thus scales like usual meson electroproduction when the virtual photon and the hybrid meson are longitidinally polarized. Exotic hybrid mesons may thus be studied in electroproduction experiments at JLAB, HERA (HERMES) or CERN (COMPASS).

Mapping gluonic excitations and confinement

One of the outstanding and fundamental questions in physics is the quantitative understanding of the confinement of quarks and gluons in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Confinement is a unique feature of QCD. Exotic hybrid mesons manifest gluonic degrees of freedom and their spectroscopy will provide the crucial data needed to test assumptions in lattice QCD and phenomenology leading to confinement. Photoproduction is expected to be particularly effective in producing exotic hybrids but data using photon probes are sparse. At Jefferson Lab, plans are underway to use the coherent bremsstrahlung technique to produce a linearly polarized photon beam. A solenoid-based hermetic detector will be used to collect data on meson production and decays with statistics that will exceed the current photoproduction data in hand by several orders of magnitude after the first year of running. In order too reach the ideal photon energy of 9 GeV/c for this mapping of the exotic spectra, the energy of the Jefferson Lab electron accelerator, CEBAF, will be doubled from its current maximum of 6 GeV to 12 GeV. The physics and project are described.

GlueX: The search for gluonic excitations

The phenomenon of confinement in QCD remains a fundamental, unanswered question, and so does the significance of hybrid mesons in understanding QCD in the confinement region. The GlueX experiment will search for all hybrid exotic and non-exotic mesons in the mass range up to 3.0 GeV/c2. This contribution deals exclusively with the search for exotic hybrid mesons.

Topics in meson spectroscopy

In this mini-review I discuss three topics in meson spectroscopy. The production of heavy quarkonium states, S-wave scattering below 1 GeV, and exotic hybrid meson production. This is not intended to be a comprehensive review, just an overview of several topics of current interest.

THE SCIENCE OF CONFINEMENT AND THE GLUEX/HALL D PROJECT AT JEFFERSON LAB

One of the outstanding and fundamental questions in physics is the quantitative understanding of the confinement of quarks and gluons in quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Confinement is a unique feature of QCD. Exotic hybrid mesons manifest gluonic degrees of freedom and their spectroscopy will provide the crucial data needed to test assumptions in lattice QCD and phenomenology leading to confinement. Photo-production is expected to be particularly effective in producing exotic hybrids but data using photon probes are sparse. At Jefferson Lab, plans are underway to use the coherent bremsstrahlung technique to produce a linearly polarized photon beam. A solenoid-based hermetic detector will be used to collected data on meson production and decays with statistics that will exceed the current photoproduction data in hand by several orders of magnitude after the first year of running. In order to reach the ideal photon energy of 9 GeV/c for this mapping of the exotic spectra, the energy of the Jefferson Lab electron accelerator, CEBAF, will be doubled from its current maximum of 6 GeV to 12 GeV. The physics and project are described.

(Field) symmetrization selection rules

QCD and QED exhibit an infinite set of three-point Green's functions that contain only Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka (OZI) rule violating contributions, and (for QCD) are subleading in the large ${N}_{c}$ expansion. The Green's functions describe the ``decay'' of a ${J}^{\mathrm{PC}}={1,3,5,\dots{}{}}^{\ensuremath{-}+}$ exotic hybrid meson current to two $J=0$ (hybrid) meson currents with identical P and C. We prove that the QCD amplitude for a neutral hybrid ${1,3,5,\dots{}{}}^{\ensuremath{-}+}$ exotic current to create $\ensuremath{\eta}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$ only comes from OZI rule violating contributions under certain conditions, and is subleading in ${N}_{c}.$

Quantum number exotic hybrid mesons and large Nc QCD

Exotic mesons with quantum numbers of a hybrid (qqg) such as JPC=1−+are shown to exist as narrow resonant states in the large Nc limit of QCD. The width of these states is proportional to 1/Nc. Possible phenomenological implications for the world of Nc=3 are discussed.

Hybrid mesons in quenched lattice QCD

We have studied exotic hybrid mesons, made from a quark, an antiquark and gluons. Here we summarize a quenched calculation at 6/ g 2 = 5.85 and 6.15. We investigate both the light quark hybrids and the charmonium hybrids. These mesons are found to mix with four-quark states, and this mixing can be used to help in extracting masses from the propagators.