Is the $X17$ composed of four bare quarks?

Abstract

When studying tetraquark states using the method of QCD sum rules, we find some tetraquark currents, such as $\bar u_L \gamma_\mu d_L~\bar d_L \gamma^\mu u_L$ and $\bar u_L \gamma_\mu d_L~\bar d_R \gamma^\mu u_R$, etc. We calculate their correlation functions using the method of operator product expansion, and find that non-perturbative QCD effects do not contribute much to them. This indicates the possible existence of tetraquark states composed of bare quarks with abnormally small masses. We study the possible assignment of the $X17$ as such a state. We argue that the Atomki experiments might observe a new type of nuclear decay process, where sea quarks take away the extra energy of the nucleus. A unique feature of this tetraquark assignment is that we predict two almost degenerate states with significantly different widths.