Exclusive $pp \to pp K^{*0} \bar{K}^{*0}$ reaction: $f_{2}(1950)$ resonance versus diffractive continuum

Abstract

The exclusive reaction $pp \to pp (K^{*0} \bar{K}^{*0} \to K^{+}\pi^{-}K^{-}\pi^{+})$ for the LHC experiments is discussed. The amplitudes for the reaction are formulated within the tensor-pomeron approach. We consider two diffractive mechanisms: the $f_{2}(1950)$ $s$-channel exchange mechanism and the $K^{*0}$-exchange mechanism. First mechanism is a candidate for central diffractive production of tensor glueball and the second one is an irreducible continuum. Comparison with data from WA102 experiment are made and predictions for LHC experiments are given. We find that including the continuum contribution alone one can describe the WA102 data reasonably well. A similar behaviour of the continuum and resonance contributions makes an identification of a broad tensor-glueball state in this reaction rather difficult.