Thermal Energy of a Charm-meson Molecule in a Pion Gas

The thermal corrections to the propagator of a loosely bound charm-meson molecule in a pion gas are calculated to next-to-leading order in the heavy-meson expansion using a zero-range effective field theory. Ultraviolet divergences in the charm-meson-pair self energy are canceled by corrections to the charm-meson-pair contact vertex. Terms that are singular at the charm-meson-pair threshold can be absorbed into thermal corrections to the rest energies and kinetic masses of the charm-meson constituents. The remaining terms reduce to a thermal correction to the binding momentum that is proportional to the pion number density and suppressed by the pion/charm-meson mass ratio. The correction gives a tiny decrease in the binding energy of the charm-meson molecule relative to the charm-meson-pair threshold in the pion gas and a change in its thermal width that is small compared to the thermal widths of the charm-meson constituents. These results are encouraging for the prospects of observing $X(3872)$ and $T_{cc}^+(3875)$ in the expanding hadron gas produced by heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 37 pages, 10 figure

Taweret: a Python package for Bayesian model mixing

Uncertainty quantification using Bayesian methods is a growing area of research. Bayesian model mixing (BMM) is a recent development which combines the predictions from multiple models such that each model's best qualities are preserved in the final result. Practical tools and analysis suites that facilitate such methods are therefore needed. Taweret introduces BMM to existing Bayesian uncertainty quantification efforts. Currently Taweret contains three individual Bayesian model mixing techniques, each pertaining to a different type of problem structure; we encourage the future inclusion of user-developed mixing methods. Taweret's first use case is in nuclear physics, but the package has been structured such that it should be adaptable to any research engaged in model comparison or model mixing.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to JOSS (Journal of Open Source Software) on 31 October 2023. Comments are welcome

Evolution of charm-meson ratios in an expanding hadron gas

We study the time evolution of the numbers of charm mesons after the kinetic freeze-out of the hadron gas produced by a central heavy-ion collision. The $\pi D^\ast \to \pi D^\ast$ reaction rates have $t$-channel singularities that give contributions inversely proportional to the thermal width of the $D$. The ratio of the $D^0$ and $D^+$ production rates can differ significantly from those predicted using the measured $D^\ast$ branching fractions.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur