Improved analysis of strong-interaction-stable doubly bottom tetraquarks on the lattice

Abstract

We update earlier lattice results for the binding energies of the flavor antitriplet of strong-interaction-stable doubly bottom, 𝐽𝑃=1+ tetraquarks, employing an extended sink construction which produces significantly improved ground-state effective-mass plateaus, as well as new, larger-volume ensembles which reduce possible finite-volume effects at lighter pion masses. The updated bindings are 115(17) MeV for the 𝐼=0 member of the antitriplet and 47(8) MeV for its 𝐼=1/2 partner. We also provide an update of our earlier study of the variable heavy mass dependence of binding in the 1+ channel and new results on this dependence for binding in the 0+ channel, accessible when the two heavy quarks have unequal masses. Implications of these results of potential relevance to experimental searches for signals of the production of doubly bottom tetraquarks and/or a possible bottom-charm partner of the 𝑇𝑐⁢𝑐 are also discussed.