Spin-Selective Hadron Spectroscopy via Azimuthal Anisotropies from Entanglement-Enabled Spin Interference

Abstract

The $π^+π^-$ invariant mass spectrum above the $ρ^0(770)$ is rich with broad, overlapping resonances. Disentangling them, whether in photoproduction, ultra-peripheral heavy-ion collisions, or electroproduction, is a longstanding challenge for conventional partial-wave analysis. We show that the recently observed entanglement-enabled spin-interference effect in ultra-peripheral collisions provides a quantum-mechanical filter that resolves this ambiguity: the angular harmonics $A_n$ of the $\cos(nΔϕ)$ asymmetry, which are governed by selection rules in the spin of the interfering states. Specifically, overlap between two distinct spin-1 amplitudes leads to interference that populate $A_2$ alone, while overlap of a spin-1 amplitude with a spin-2 one generates $A_1$ and $A_3$. Utilizing ALICE data in the $1.0$--$1.4\,\mathrm{GeV} \; c^{-2}$ region, we demonstrate that two physically distinct hypotheses -- an additional spin-1 $ρ'(1450)$ (produced via photonuclear interactions) versus a spin-2 (photon-photon) $f_2(1270)$ state -- fit the invariant mass spectrum equally well but predict different $A_n$: identically zero $A_1$ and $A_3$ in the spin-1 case, versus pronounced peaks in the spin-2 case. This selection rule provides a new tool for hadronic spectroscopy in ultra-peripheral collisions and the first viable route to isolating the $γγ\toπ^+π^-$ continuum from the dominant photonuclear background, revealing a clean low-energy probe of non-perturbative QCD.