Double ϕ production in p¯p reactions near threshold

Abstract

We employ an effective Lagrangian approach to investigate double ϕ production in the $\overline{p}p$ reaction near the threshold and describe a notable violation of the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka (OZI) rule in this reaction process through hadronic degrees of freedom, using the currently available theoretical and experimental information. The ground-state nucleon and its s-wave resonances, i.e., $N^{⁎}(1535,1650,1895)$, are taken into account in the t- and u-channel tree-level diagrams. The pentaquark-like nucleon resonance $P_s(2071,3/2^{-})$ is also considered. In the s-channel diagrams, scalar and tensor mesons are incorporated, specifically $f_0(2020,2100,2200)$ and $f_2(1950,2010,2150)$, respectively, along with the pseudoscalar meson $\eta \left(2225\right)$. Our calculations suggest that contributions from the N and $N^{⁎}$ resonances significantly enhance the cross-section near the threshold. At the same time, those from the $f_0$ and $f_2$ mesons produce distinctive peak structures around $W=2.2$ GeV, qualitatively reproducing the JETSET experimental data. The openings of the $\overline{\Lambda }\Lambda$ and $\overline{\Sigma }\Sigma$ channels lead to the cusp structures, which can explain the nontrivial structures in the cross-section at $W\approx 2M_{\Lambda }$ and $2M_{\Sigma }$ observed in the data. It turns out that contributions from the η and $P_s$ resonances are almost negligible. Additionally, polarization observables such as the spin density matrix element (SDME) provide crucial insights into the individual hadronic processes involved in this reaction.