Production of vector-meson pairs in hadronic collisions

Production in hadronic collisions of $2^{++}$ $Q^2{\overline{Q}}^2$ states which decay predominantly to vectormeson pairs are discussed based on a Drell-Yan-type mechanism with gluon fusion via the color vector-dominance model. The $2^{++}$ $\phi \phi$ resonance at 2.16 GeV produced in $\mathrm{pp}$ and $\pi p$ collisions is interpreted as a $2^{++}$ $\mathrm{ss}\overline{s}\overline{s}$ four-quark state. The calculated mass and width of this four-quark state, its characteristic $S$-wave decay, and the theoretical production cross sections in $\mathrm{pp}$ reaction at $p_L=400\mathrm{}$ GeV/c and $\pi p$ reaction at $p_L=100\mathrm{}$ GeV/c are consistent with experimental data. Estimates of the hadronic production cross sections and their longitudinal- and transverse-momentum distributions for various channels of vector-meson pairs are also presented.