Properties of the $T_{cc}(3875)^+$ and the $T_{\bar c \bar c}(3875)^-$ states in nuclear matter

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the properties of the $T_{cc}(3875)^+$ and its charge conjugate change in dense nuclear matter, highlighting significant in-medium modifications that could reveal their molecular structure.

Contribution

It provides a joint analysis of the $T_{cc}^+$ and $T_{ar c ar c}^-$ states in nuclear matter, incorporating in-medium spectral functions to predict modifications in mass and width.

Findings

Significant in-medium mass shifts and width broadening of the states.

Changes become more pronounced with increasing nuclear density.

Results support the molecular component hypothesis of the states.

Abstract

Since its first detection, the interesting properties of the $T_{cc}(3875)^+$ have made it to be one of the most prominent tetraquark-like states up to date. In this work we present a joint analysis of the $T_{cc}^+$ and its charge-conjugated partner in a dense nuclear medium. We start by considering both states as purely isoscalar $D^{\ast} D$ and $\overline{D}{}^{\ast} \overline{D}$ $S$-wave bound states, respectively. We use previous results for the in-medium $D$, $\overline{D}$, $D^\ast$ and $\overline{D}{}^\ast$ spectral functions to determine the modified two-meson amplitudes. We find important changes in the in-medium mass and width of both tetraquark-like resonances, which become more visible when increasing the nuclear density and molecular probabilities. The experimental confirmation of the found distinctive patterns will support the existence of molecular components in the $T_{cc}^+$ and $T_{\bar c\bar c}^-$ wave functions.