Mapping a new cluster of charmoniumlike structures at $e^+e^-$ collisions

TL;DR

This paper introduces a Critical Energy induced Enhancement (CEE) mechanism in $e^+e^-$ collisions that reveals a new way to map charmoniumlike structures through kinematic reflection peaks at specific energies.

Contribution

The study proposes a novel CEE mechanism in three-body open-charm processes, providing a new experimental approach to discover charmoniumlike states at specific collision energies.

Findings

Identification of a reflection peak near the threshold at critical energies

Proposal of optimal energy points for experimental searches

Illustration of the phenomenon with a specific $e^+e^-$ process

Abstract

In this work, we find a Critical Energy induced Enhancement (CEE) mechanism for the general three-body open-charm process at the $e^+e^-$ collisions, which utilizes the peculiar kinematic behavior of the $e^+e^-$ annihilation process involving three-body final states. We present a general analysis of a three-body process $e^+e^-\to BC\to B(C\to DE)$. When the center-of-mass (CM) energy of the $e^+e^-$ collision satisfies a critical relation $\sqrt{s}=m_B+m_C$, there clearly exists the reflection peak of an intermediate $C$ state near the threshold of the invariant mass distribution of $m_{BE}$ or $m_{BD}$, whose formation is very sensitive to the CM energy. The reflection enhancement phenomenon induced at the critical energy means that a new cluster of charmoniumlike structures can be experimentally mapped. Taking an example of $e^+e^-\to D_s^{*-}D_{s2}^*(2573)^+ \to D_s^{*-}(D^0K^+)$, we further illustrate this novel phenomenon when $\sqrt{s}=4.680$ GeV. What is more important is that a series of optimal CM energy points to search for new charmoniumlike structures in three-body open-charm processes from $e^+e^-$ annihilation are suggested, which can be accessible at BESIII and further BelleII as a new research topic.