Decisive Search for a Diquark-Antidiquark Meson with Hidden Strangeness

Diquark-antidiquark states are expected to exist as a natural complement of mesons and baryons. Although they were predicted long ago, and some candidates were found experimentally, none has, as yet, been reliably identified. We suggest that the search for the so-called $C(1480)$-meson in reactions such as photoproduction $\gamma N\rightarrow\phi\pi N$ and $K N \rightarrow \phi \pi \Lambda$ should provide a decisive way to settle this issue. Estimates of the cross sections are given using present experimental information on the C-meson and assuming its diquark-antidiquark structure. Sizable cross sections are predicted (of the order of 0.1 $\mu$b for photoproduction and of the order of 0.1 mb for $KN$ at the maximum with an insignificant background). Failure to find this kind of signal would imply that the C-meson is {\it not} a diquark-antidiquark state.