Probing Quantum Numbers and Decay Branching Ratios of Exotic States via Entanglement-Enabled Spin Interference
Abstract
Ultra-peripheral heavy-ion collisions (UPCs) coherently photo-produce vector mesons through two spatially separated and quantum-mechanically indistinguishable production sites, whose separation far exceeds the lifetime of the created resonance. The superposition of these amplitudes generates production-site entanglement, observed experimentally as entanglement-enabled spin-interference patterns in the angular distributions of the decay products. We show that these interference signatures provide a sensitive probe of spin-alignment transfer in hadronic decay chains, enabling intermediate-state quantum numbers and relative branching ratios to be measured from observed angular modulations. Using the decay ρ(1450) → π+π−π+π− as example, we simulate the a1(1260)π, h1(1170)π, ρ(ππ)S, and π(1300)π channels and demonstrate that each produces a distinct azimuthal cos 2ϕ modulation. The π(1300)π mode shows a uniquely separated response, allowing its branching fraction to be extracted directly. These results establish production-site entanglement in UPCs as a selective tool for hadron spectroscopy, particularly for broad or overlapping resonances that are otherwise difficult to disentangle.
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BibTeX
@misc{zhang2026probing,
title = {{Probing Quantum Numbers and Decay Branching Ratios of Exotic States via Entanglement-Enabled Spin Interference}},
author = {Di Zhang and Zhangbu Xu and Chi Yang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2606.05691},
eprint = {2606.05691},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.05691},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Probing Quantum Numbers and Decay Branching Ratios of Exotic States via Entanglement-Enabled Spin Interference
AU - Di Zhang
AU - Zhangbu Xu
AU - Chi Yang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2606.05691
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.05691
AB - Ultra-peripheral heavy-ion collisions (UPCs) coherently photo-produce vector mesons through two spatially separated and quantum-mechanically indistinguishable production sites, whose separation far exceeds the lifetime of the created resonance. The superposition of these amplitudes generates production-site entanglement, observed experimentally as entanglement-enabled spin-interference patterns in the angular distributions of the decay products. We show that these interference signatures provide a sensitive probe of spin-alignment transfer in hadronic decay chains, enabling intermediate-state quantum numbers and relative branching ratios to be measured from observed angular modulations. Using the decay ρ(1450) → π^+π^−π^+π^− as example, we simulate the a_1(1260)π, h_1(1170)π, ρ(ππ)_S, and π(1300)π channels and demonstrate that each produces a distinct azimuthal cos 2ϕ modulation. The π(1300)π mode shows a uniquely separated response, allowing its branching fraction to be extracted directly. These results establish production-site entanglement in UPCs as a selective tool for hadron spectroscopy, particularly for broad or overlapping resonances that are otherwise difficult to disentangle.
ER -