Observation of a resonant structure in $e^{+}e^{-} \to K^{+}K^{-}\pi^{0}\pi^{0}$

Abstract

Using $e^{+}e^{-}$ collision data samples with center-of-mass energies ranging from 2.000 to 2.644 GeV, collected by the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider, and with a total integrated luminosity of 300 pb^{-1}, a partial-wave analysis is performed for the process $e^{+}e^{-} \to K^{+}K^{-}\pi^{0}\pi^{0}$. The total Born cross sections for the process $e^{+}e^{-} \to K^{+}K^{-}\pi^{0}\pi^{0}$, as well as the Born cross sections f or the subprocesses $e^{+}e^{-} \to \phi \pi^{0}\pi^{0}$, $K^{+}(1460)K^{-}$, $K^{+}_{1}(1400)K^{-}$, $K^{+}_{1}(1270)K^{-}$ and $K^{*+}(892)K^{*-}(892)$, are measured versus the center-of-mass energy. The corresponding results for $e^{+}e^{-} \to K^{+}K^{-}\pi^{0}\pi^{0}$ and $\phi \pi^{0}\pi^{0}$ are consistent with those of BaBar and have much improved precision.By analyzing the cross sections for the four subprocesses, $K^{+}(1460)K^{-}$, $K^{+}_{1}(1400)K^{-}$, $K^{+ }_{1}(1270)K^{-}$ and $K^{*+}K^{*-}$, a structure with mass $M$ = (2126.5 $\pm$ 16.8 $\pm$ 12.4)~MeV/c^{2} and width $\Gamma$ = (106.9 $\pm$ 32.1 $\pm$ 28.1)~MeV is observed with an overall statistical significance of 6.3 $\sigma$, although with very limited significance in the subprocesses $e^{+}e^{-} \to K^{+}_{1}(1270)K^{-}$ and $K^{*+}(892)K^{*-}(892)$. The resonant parameters of the observed structure suggest it can be identified with the $\phi(2170)$, thus the results provide valuable input to the internal nature of the $\phi(2170)$.