C^3ATS: Coupled-Channel effects in the Correlation Analysis Tool using the Schrödinger equation

• Applicant: Dr. Valentina Mantovani-Sarti
• Subject Area: Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Fields
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 455139884

The proposed project C^3ATS focuses on the development of a C++ package able to numerically solve the radial Schrödinger equation for a system with N coupled-channels and to provide the correlation function of the pair in exam. A current version of the software CATS is already available but it can only provide results for single-channel problems. The output of CATS and henc of the extension C^3ATS is the correlation function which depends on two main ingredients: the interaction and the emitting source of pairs, related to the colliding system (pp,p-A or A-A) at hand. The coupled-channels dynamics is a fundamental feature of the strong interaction, hence it is expected to be relevant for source sizes around 1 fm (typically reached in high-energy pp collisions). The full understanding of the role played by coupled-channels in hadron physics is needed since their presence can lead to the formation of bound states, molecular states and resonances. The correlation function in the relative momentum space has proven to be particularly sensitive to the presence of inelastic channels, hence it can be exploited to study the effect of the couplings amongst the different channels by varying the source size. Besides the interaction, the effect of coupled-channels in the correlation function depends also on the so-called conversion weights w_j, connected to the produced particle pair yields and the kinematics properties of the considered inelastic channel. In this project we propose a phenomenological model, to be implemented in the C^3ATS extension, to determine these weights based on the combination of statistical model calculations and transport models results for the kinematic part. These two tools are able to provide the informations on wj for any colliding systems in a wide center-of-mass energy range (from few GeV to the TeV scale).The final goal of the project is to provide predictions for systems with a dominant presence of coupled-channels as baryon-baryon interactions in the strangeness sector |S|=2,3 and baryon-antibaryon interactions. Theoretical models based on lattice calculations, chiral approaches and meson-exchange models are present and with C^3ATS a detailed study of the coupled-channels and their effects on the correlation function for different source sizes will be delivered.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants