Decays of the f0(1370) scalar glueball candidate

Abstract For a long time doubts have existed on the existence of the f 0 ( 1370 ) meson as an individual object distinct and separated from the σ meson. Decays into π + π − of the f 0 ( 1370 ) are the main source of an isolated structure localized between 1.2 and 1.5 GeV in the π + π − mass spectrum measured in pp Central Exclusive Production (CEP) at s = 200 GeV at very low four momentum transfer squared ltl. These data confirm in the π + π − decay channel the existence of the f 0 ( 1370 ) as an isolated well identified structure that was previously observed in K + K − , K s K s , 4 π 0 , 2 π 0 π + π − and π + π − π + π − decays measured in pbar annihilations at rest. The decay branching ratios of f 0 ( 1370 ) into σσ , ρρ , ππ , KKbar, ηη relative to ππ decays obtained in analysis of data of pbar annihilations at rest which treat separately f 0 ( 1370 ) and σ are respectively 5.6, 3, 1, 1, 0.02. The decay and production properties of f 0 ( 1370 ) point to a large gg content. CEP interactions at very high energies favour production of 0 + + and 2 + + mesons. Selection of events with low ltl at both proton vertices suppresses 2 + + structures. LHC runs dedicated to pp CEP measurements at low ltl could then provide a unique clean source of all the low energy scalars, cross check the pbar annihilation results and make it clear if and where scalar gluonium is resident and the nature (composition in terms of qqbar, qqqbarqbar, qqbar-qqbar and gg) of f 0 ( 500 ) , f 0 ( 980 ) , f 0 ( 1370 ) , f 0 ( 1500 ) and f 0 ( 1710 ) .