Constraints on long-lived di-baryons and di-baryonic dark matter

TL;DR

This paper derives observational constraints on the hypothetical sexaquark state, a long-lived six-quark hadron, focusing on its mass, coupling, and potential as dark matter, to guide future searches and theoretical models.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive observational limits on the sexaquark's coupling and explores its viability as dark matter, improving upon previous bounds.

Findings

Strong limits on the effective Yukawa coupling $ ilde{g}$.

Constraints on the sexaquark's mass range.

Implications for sexaquark as dark matter candidate.

Abstract

A color-flavor-spin singlet state of six quarks $uuddss$ ($S$, or sexaquark) has been argued to be a potentially undiscovered deeply bound, long-lived hadron. Theoretical calculations of the $S$ mass have been made in the literature, widely varying from deeply-bound $\sim 1.2$ GeV to weakly-bound $\sim2.2$ GeV. Given the spread of the mass predictions, it is vital to derive observational constraints on the state as a function of the mass. The transition rates between $S$ and two baryons are governed by $\tilde{g}$, the effective Yukawa coupling between $S$ and two baryons with the same quantum numbers as $S$. In this paper, we place strong observational constraints on $\tilde{g}$, improving on various previous limits; additional limits assuming $S$ is dark matter are also presented.