Femtoscopy of $DN$ and $\bar{D}N$ systems

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical study of femtoscopic correlation functions for $D$ and $ar{D}$ mesons with nucleons, using advanced models to predict measurable signals in high-energy collision experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive theoretical framework combining the Koonin-Pratt formalism, effective Lagrangian modeling, and coupled-channel TROY formalism to predict $D$-nucleon correlation functions.

Findings

Predicted correlation functions for $D$ and $ar{D}$ mesons with nucleons.

Comparison of full coupled-channel and approximation methods.

Testable predictions for ALICE and STAR experiments.

Abstract

The capability of the ALICE@LHC and STAR@RHIC experiments to reconstruct $D$ mesons has enabled femtoscopic correlation measurements of open-charm mesons in both small and large systems. In this work, we present a theoretical calculation of the correlation functions of $D$ and $\bar{D}$ mesons with nucleons, based on the Koonin-Pratt formalism. We employ an effective Lagrangian to model the interaction between charmed mesons and baryons and apply the TROY formalism to obtain the off-shell $T$-matrix in coupled channels, incorporating the effect of the Coulomb interaction when the pair involves two charged particles. The resulting full coupled-channel wave function is inserted into the Koonin-Pratt equation with channel weights derived from a thermal model. Additionally, we compute the correlation functions using the Lednick\'y-Lyuboshitz approximation with low-energy scattering parameters extracted from the unitarized amplitudes. We compare these two approaches and provide predictions for different correlated pairs. Our results can be tested against current and future experimental data from the ALICE and STAR collaborations in both proton-proton and heavy-ion collisions.