A recent study has investigated the role of the interaction potential between heavy quarks in the coalescence process, a crucial phenomenon in hadron formation. Heavy quark coalescence, which is expected to have a probability close to unity at low momenta, is influenced by the nature of this potential. The research developed a phenomenological model for the heavy quark potential that successfully reproduces the vacuum masses of pseudoscalar and vector heavy mesons, providing a solid basis for the analysis.

Using this potential, the researchers demonstrated that its inclusion enhances the coalescence probability. Furthermore, the study examined how medium-induced modifications of the heavy quark potential in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) affect the coalescence process. The QGP is a state of matter that briefly existed in the early universe and is recreated in heavy-ion collision experiments, such as those at the LHC.

The results indicate that the coalescence probability remains close to unity as long as the modification of the potential in the QGP is sufficiently moderate. This suggests that, even under extreme conditions like those in the QGP, hadron formation from heavy quarks remains an efficient process, provided that the interactions are not drastically altered. This finding is relevant for a deeper understanding of quantum chromodynamics and the formation of hadronic matter in high-energy environments.