Treating the light-flavor constituent quarks and antiquarks whose momentum information is extracted from the data of soft light-flavor hadrons in pp collisions at [equation]TeV as the underlying...

Under the assignment of Ds(3040) as a radially excited p-wave c\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}s state with JP=1+, we compute the Bs$\rightarrow${}Ds(3040) form factors within the covariant light-front quark model. Two classification schemes for the p-wave c\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}s meson are adopted. We also use our results to predict the branching ratios (BRs), polarization fractions, and angular asymmetries in semileptonic Bs$\rightarrow${}Ds(3040)$\ell${}$\nu${}\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{} ($\ell${}=e, $\mu${}, $\tau${}). The BRs are found at the order of 10-3 for $\ell${}=e, $\mu${}, and 10-5 for $\ell${}=$\tau${}. We find that the polarization fractions and angular asymmetries could be useful to pin down the ambiguities in theoretical prescriptions for Ds(3040). In addition, we investigate the nonleptonic Bs$\rightarrow${}Ds(3040)M decays under the factorization method, where M denotes a charged pseudoscalar or a vector meson. The BRs of Bs$\rightarrow${}Ds(3040)$\rho${} and Bs$\rightarrow${}Ds(3040)Ds* reach the order of 10-3, while the other channels are typically smaller by 1\char21{}2 orders.

With the recent measurement of ${Z}_{b}(10610)$ and ${Z}_{b}(10650)$\rightarrow${}B{\overline{B}}^{*}+\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{c}.$ and ${B}^{*}{\overline{B}}^{*}$, we investigate the transitions from the ${Z}_{b}(10610)$ and ${Z}_{b}(10650)$ to bottomonium states with emission of a pion via intermediate $B{B}^{*}$ meson loops. The experimental data can be reproduced in this approach with a commonly accepted range of values for the form factor cutoff parameter $$\alpha${}$. The $$\Upsilon${}(3S)$\pi${}$ decay channels appear to experience obvious threshold effects which can be understood by the property of the loop integrals. By investigating the $$\alpha${}$-dependence of partial decay widths and ratios between different decay channels, we show that the intermediate $B{B}^{*}$ meson loops are crucial for driving the transitions of ${Z}_{b}/{Z}_{b}^{$'${}}$\rightarrow${}$\Upsilon${}(nS)$\pi${}$ with $n=1$, 2, 3, and ${h}_{b}(mP)$\pi${}$ with $m=1$ and 2.

If quark-gluon plasma (QGP)–like medium is created in $p$-Pb collisions at extremely high collision energies, charm quarks that move in the medium can hadronize by capturing the comoving light quark(s) or antiquark(s) to form the charm hadrons. Using light quark $p_T$ spectra extracted from the experimental data of light-flavor hadrons and a charm quark $p_T$ spectrum that is consistent with perturbative QCD calculations, the central-rapidity data of $p_T$ spectra and the spectrum ratios for $D$ mesons in the low-$p_T$ range ($p_T\lesssim 7$ GeV/$c$) in minimum-bias $p$-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV are well described by the quark combination mechanism in equal-velocity combination approximation. The ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}/D^0$ ratio in quark combination mechanism exhibits the typical increase-peak-decrease behavior as the function of $p_T$, and the shape of the ratio for $p_T\gtrsim 3$ GeV/$c$ is in agreement with the data of the ALICE Collaboration in central rapidity region $-0.96<y<0.04$ and the preliminary data of the LHCb Collaboration in forward rapidity region $1.5<y<4.0$. The global production of single-charm baryons is quantified using the data and the possible enhancement (relative to light flavor baryons) is discussed. The $p_T$ spectra of ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_c^0, {\mathrm{\Omega }}_c^0$ in minimum-bias events and those of single-charm hadrons in high-multiplicity event classes are predicted, which serves as the further test of the possible change of the hadronization characteristic for low-$p_T$ charm quarks in the small system created in $p$-Pb collisions at Large Hadron Collider energies.

The hadron production in relativistic heavy ion collisions is well described by the quark combination model. The mixed ratios for various hadrons and the transverse momentum spectra for long-life hadrons are predicted and agree with recent Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider data. The production rates for the pentaquarks ${\Theta }^{+}$ and ${\Theta }^{*++}$ and the di-baryon $(\Omega \Omega ){}_{0^{+}}$ are estimated, neglecting the effect from the transition amplitude for constituent quarks to form an exotic state.

The quark combination mechanism of QGP hadronization is applied to nucleus-nucleus collisions at the top energy available at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). The yields, rapidity, and transverse momentum distributions of identified hadrons in most central $\mathrm{Pb}+\mathrm{Pb}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathit{NN}}}=17.3$ GeV are systematically studied. The calculated results agree with the experimental data from the NA49 Collaboration. The longitudinal and transverse collective flows and strangeness of the hot and dense quark matter produced in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the top SPS energy are investigated. It is found that the collective flow of strange quarks is stronger than that for light quarks; this result is similar to that obtained at energies currently available at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, and the strangeness is almost the same as those at $\sqrt{s_{\mathit{NN}}}=62.4$, 130, and 200 GeV.