Quantum chromodynamics resolution of the ATOMKI anomaly in 4He nuclear transitions

Kubarovsky, Valery; West, Jennifer Rittenhouse; Brodsky, Stanley J.

doi:10.1103/physrevc.111.024320

Title: Quantum chromodynamics resolution of the ATOMKI anomaly in ⁴He nuclear transitions

Journal Article · 26 February 2025 · Physical Review. C

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevc.111.024320 · OSTI ID:2524554

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Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

Observations of anomalous angular correlations in electron-positron pairs produced from excited states of ⁴He, ⁸Be, and ¹²C nuclei have been suggested as being due to the creation and subsequent decay of a new light particle of mass ~17MeV. In this work, we investigate the possibility that the source of the observed signals is a set of new excitation channels created by the 12-quark hidden-color Fock state within the ⁴He nuclear wave function dubbed the “hexadiquark.” We calculate the invariant e⁺⁢ e^- mass spectrum for the electromagnetic transition from a new excitation of ⁴He, estimating its differential and total decay width. We find that we can fit the shape of the anomalous signal with the QCD Fock state at excitation energy E* = 17.9 ± 1MeV and a Gaussian form factor for the electromagnetic decay. We address the physical issues with the fit parameters using properties of the hexadiquark state, in particular the three weakly repulsive 6_C interactions of SU⁡(3)_C between diquark pairs. Experimental tests of our model are described in detail. In light of this work, we emphasize the need for independent experimental confirmation or refutation of the ATOMKI results as well as dedicated experiments to search for the proposed new excitations of ⁴He and other a-cluster nuclei.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; AC02-76SF00515; AC05-06OR23177

OSTI ID:: 2524554

Report Number(s):: DOE/OR/23177-5511; JLAB-PHY--22-3641; arXiv:2206.14441

Journal Information:: Physical Review. C, Journal Name: Physical Review. C Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 111; ISSN 2469-9985

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Quantum chromodynamics resolution of the ATOMKI anomaly in 4He nuclear transitions

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Title: Quantum chromodynamics resolution of the ATOMKI anomaly in ⁴He nuclear transitions