How to Search for Pentaquarks in High Energy Hadronic Interactions
Loading...
Date
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Description
The strange-anticharmed Pentaquark is a $uud\bar{c}s$ or $udd\bar{c}s$ five-quark baryon that is expected to be either a narrow resonance, or possibly even stable against strong and electromagnetic decay. We describe this hyperon here, its structure, binding energy and lifetime, resonance width, production mechanisms, production cross sections, and decay modes. We describe techniques to reduce backgrounds in search experiments and to optimize the conditions for Pentaquark observation. Possibilities for enhancing the signal over background in Pentaquark searches are investigated by examining predictions for detailed momentum and angular distributions in multiparticle final states. General model-independent predictions are presented as well as those from two models: a loosely bound $D_{s}^-N$ molecule and a strongly-bound five-quark system. Fermilab E791 data, currently being analyzed, may have marginal statistics for showing definitive signals. Future experiments in the spirit of the recent CHARM2000 workshop, such as FNAL E781 and CERN CHEOPS with $10^6-10^7$ reconstructed charmed baryon events, should have sensitivity to determine whether or not the Pentaquark exists.
26 pages text (latex), no figures, submitted to Zeitschrift fur Physik A, Oct. 1995
26 pages text (latex), no figures, submitted to Zeitschrift fur Physik A, Oct. 1995