Charm-strange meson production in relativistic heavy ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the production of charm-strange mesons in relativistic heavy ion collisions using a coalescence model, comparing theoretical predictions with experimental data and exploring different quark configurations.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed coalescence model for charm-strange meson production and compares two-quark and four-quark state scenarios for the $D_{s0}^*(2317)$ meson.

Findings

The $D_s$ yield and transverse momentum distribution match experimental data.

The $D_s$ to $D^0$ transverse momentum ratio provides insights into quark contributions.

The four-quark state model for $D_{s0}^*(2317)$ shows distinct production characteristics.

Abstract

We study charm-strange mesons, or $D_s$, $D_s^*$, $D_{s0}^*(2317)$, and $D_{s1}(2460)$ mesons by focusing on their production by coalescence from a quark-gluon plasma in relativistic heavy ion collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV. Starting from the investigation of the transverse momentum distribution of both charm and strange quarks through transverse momentum distributions of $\phi$ and $D^0$ mesons, we calculate the transverse momentum distributions and yields of $D_s$, $D_s^*$, $D_{s0}^*(2317)$, and $D_{s1}(2460)$ mesons based on the coalescence model. We find that the yield and transverse momentum distribution of the $D_s$ meson agree well with the experimental measurements at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV at LHC. We further evaluate the transverse momentum ratio between $D_s$ and $D^0$ mesons, and investigate the role of light and strange quarks in the production of charmed mesons in heavy ion collisions. Finally, we calculate the transverse momentum distribution and yield of the $D_{s0}^*(2317)$ meson in a four-quark state, and compare to those of $D_{s0}^*(2317)$ meson in a two-quark state.