Prospects for detecting the hidden-strange pentaquarklike state N*(2080) in the π⁻ p→φ n reaction

In this work, the production of the hidden-strange pentaquarklike state N*(2080) via the π⁻ p scattering process is studied by the effective Lagrangian approach. Concretely, we consider the ρ meson exchange of t-channel and the nucleon exchange of u-channel, which are treated as the background terms, and take into account the contribution of the N*(2080) via the s-channel as a signal term. By global fitting of the total and differential cross sections of the π⁻ p→φ n process, it is shown that the N*(2080) contributes an obvious peak at the threshold energy point of the differential cross section at the forward angle (cosθ = 1), which provides clues to the detection of the N*(2080) by the π⁻ p scattering process. However, due to the limited accuracy of the experimental data, it is an objective limitation for us to determine the properties of the N*(2080) by the π⁻ p scattering process. Therefore, more accurate experimental measurements of the π⁻ p→φ n reaction are highly desirable, and we have also proposed that correlation measurements can be performed on J-PARC, AMBER, and future HIKE and HIAF meson beam experiments.