Weak decays of doubly heavy baryons: “decay constants”

Inspired by the recent observation of the Ξ_c~+_c~+)by the LHCb Collaboration, we explore the "decay constants" of doubly heavy baryons in the framework of QCD sum rules. With the Ξ_cc),Ξ_(bc),Ξ_(bb), and ?_(cc),?_(bc),?_(bb) baryons interpolated by three-quark operators, we calculate the correlation functions using the operator product expansion and include the contributions from operators up to dimension six. On the hadron side, we consider both contributions from the lowest-lying states with JP=1/2~+ and from negative parity baryons with JP=1/2~-. We find that the results are stable and the contaminations from negative parity baryons are not severe. These results are ingredients for the QCD study of weak decays and other properties of doubly-heavy baryons.     

Strong decays of the low-lying bottom strange baryons

In this work,the strong decay behaviors of the λ-mode low-lying Ξ_b and Ξ'_b baryons are investigated within the ~3 P_0 model.Our results suggest that all of the low-lying 3_F states Ξ_b(2 S),Ξ_b(1 P),and Ξ_b(1 D) have small decay widths of less than 20 MeV,and these states have good potentials to be observed in the Ξ'_bπ and Ξ'_b~*π invariant masses.Further,most of the 6_F multiplets are relatively narrow and may decay into the Ξ_bπ,Ξ'_bπ,Ξ'_b~*π,and Δ_bK final states.Considering the masses and strong decay behaviors,we can assign the newly observed Ξ_b(6100) resonance as the Ξ_b(1 P) state with J~P=3/2~-and interpret the Ξ_b(6227)structure as the J~P=3/2~-Ξ'_b(1 P) state with a proper mixing angle.We expect that our predictions for these excited bottom strange baryons will provide helpful information for future experimental research.     

Search for the doubly heavy baryons Ω_(bc)~0 and Ξ_(bc)~0 decaying to Λ_c~+π~- and Ξ_c~+π~-

The first search for the doubly heavy Ω_(bc)~0 baryon and a search for the Ξ_(bc)~0 baryon are performed using pp collision data collected via the LHCb experiment from 2016 to 2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV,corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.2 fb~(-1).The baryons are reconstructed via their decays to ∧_c~+π~-andΞ_c~+π~-.No significant excess is found for invariant masses between 6700 and 7300 MeV/c2,in a rapidity range from2.0 to 4.5 and a transverse momentum range from 2 to 20 MeV/c.Upper limits are set on the ratio of the Ω_(bc)~0 andΞ_(bc)~0 production cross-section times the branching fraction to ∧_c~+π~-(Ξ_c~+π~-) relative to that of the ∧_b~0(Ξ_b~0) baryon,for different lifetime hypotheses,at 95% confidence level.The upper limits range from 0.5×10~(-4) to 2.5×10~(-4) for theΩ_(bc)~0→∧_c~+π~-(Ξ_(bc)~0→∧_c~+π~-) decay,and from 1.4×10~(-3) to 6.9×10~(-3) for the Ω_(bc)~0→Ξ_c~+π~-(Ξ_(bc)~0→Ξ_c~+π~-) decay,depending on the considered mass and lifetime of the Ω_(bc)~0(Ξ_(bc)~0) baryon.     

Discovery potentials of doubly charmed baryons

The existence of doubly heavy flavor baryons has not been well established experimentally so far. In this Letter we systematically investigate the weak decays of the doubly charmed baryons, Ξ~(++)_(cc)and Ξ~+_(cc), which should be helpful for experimental searches for these particles. The long-distance contributions are first studied in the doubly heavy baryon decays, and found to be significantly enhanced. Comparing all the processes, Ξ~(++)_(cc)→Λ~+_cK~-π~+π~+andΞ~+_cπ~+ are the most favorable decay modes for experiments to search for doubly heavy baryons.     

Prediction of an ?_(bbb)?_(bbb) Dibaryon in the Extended One-Boson Exchange Model

Since Yukawa proposed that the pion is responsible for mediating the nucleon-nucleon interaction, meson exchanges have been widely used in understanding hadron-hadron interactions. The most studied mesons are the σ,π, ρ, and ω, while other heavier mesons are often argued to be less relevant because they lead to short range interactions. However, whether the range of interactions is short or long should be judged with respect to the size of the system studied. We propose that one charmonium exchange is responsible for the formation of the ?_(ccc)?_(ccc) dibaryon, recently predicted by lattice QCD simulations. The same approach can be extended to the strangeness and bottom sectors, leading to the prediction on the existence of ?? and ?_(bbb) dibaryons, while the former is consistent with the existing lattice QCD results, the latter remains to checked. In addition, we show that the Coulomb interaction may break up the ?_(ccc)?_(ccc) pair but not the ?_(bbb) and ?? dibaryons.     

Measurement of Ξ_(cc)~(++) production in pp collisions at s~(1/2)=13 TeV

The production of Ξ_(cc)~(++) baryons in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s~(1/2)=13 TeV is measured in the transverse-momentum range 4 pT15 GeV/c and the rapidity range 2.0 y4.5.The data used in this measurement correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.7 fb~(-1),recorded by the LHCb experiment during2016.The ratio of the Ξ_(cc)~(++) production cross-section times the branching fraction of the Ξ_(cc)~(++)→Λ_c~+K~-π~+π~+ decay relative to the prompt Λ_c~+production cross-section is found to be(2.22±0.27±0.29)×10~(-4),assuming the central value of the measured Ξ_(cc)~(++) lifetime,where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic.     

Rescattering mechanism of weak decays of double-charm baryons

The doubly charmed baryon Ξ_(cc)~(++) was recently observed by LHCb via the decay processes ofΞ_(cc)~(++)→∧_c~+K~-π~+π~+ and Ξ_c~+π~+. These discovery channels were successfully predicted in a framework in which the short-distance contributions are calculated under the factorization hypothesis and the long-distance contributions are estimated using the rescattering mechanism for the final-state-interaction effects.In this paper,we illustrate the above framework in detail by systematic studies on the two-body baryonic decays B_(cc)→B_cP involving the doubly charmed baryons B_(cc)=(Ξ_(cc)~(++),Ξ_(cc)~+,Ω_(cc)~+),the singly charmed baryons B_c=(B_3,B_6) and the light pseudoscalar mesons P=(π,K,η_(1,8)).     

Search for the doubly charmed baryon ?_(cc)~+

A search for the doubly charmed baryon ?_(cc)~+ with the decay mode ?_(cc)~+→Ξ_c~+K~-π~+ is performed using proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the LHCb experiment from 2016 to 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb~(-1). No significant signal is observed within the invariant mass range of 3.6 to 4.0 GeV/c~2. Upper limits are set on the ratio R of the production cross-section times the total branching fraction of the ?_(cc)~+→Ξ_c~+K~-π~+ decay with respect to the Ξ_(cc)~(++)→Λ_c~+K~-π~+π~+ decay. Upper limits at 95% credibility level for R in the range 0.005 to 0.11 are obtained for diferent hypotheses on the ?_(cc)~+ mass and lifetime in the rapidity range from 2.0 to 4.5 and transverse momentum range from 4 to 15 GeV/c.     

Possible strange hidden-charm pentaquarks from Σ_c~((*))_s~* and Ξ_c~((',*))~* interactions

Using the one-boson-exchange model, we investigate the Λ_c_s~*, Σ_c_s~*, Σ_c~*_s~*, Ξ_c~*, Ξ'_c~*, and Ξ_c~*~* interactions by considering the one-eta-exchange and/or one-pion-exchange contributions. We further predict the existence of hidden-charm molecular pentaquarks. Promising candidates for hidden-charm molecular pentaquarks include a Ξ'_c~* state with 0((1/2)~-) and the Ξ_c~*~* states with 0(1/2)~-) and 0((3/2)~-). Experimental searches for these predicted hidden-charm molecular pentaquarks are an interesting future research topic for experiments like LHCb.     

Radiative decay of the Ξ(1620) in a hadronic molecule picture

Last year,the Ξ(1620) state,which is cataloged in the Particle Data Group(PDG) with only one star,was reported again in the Ξ~-π~+final state by the Belle Collaboration.Its properties,such as the spectroscopy and decay width,cannot be simply explained in the context of conventional constituent quark models.This inspires an active discussion on the structure of this resonance.In this paper,we study the radiative decays of the newly observed Ξ(1620) assuming that it is a meson-baryon molecular state of AK and with spin-parity J~P=1/2~-developed in our previous study.The partial decay widths of the AK-ΣK molecular state into Ξγ and Ξπγ final states through hadronic loops are evaluated using effective Lagrangians.The partial widths for Ξ(1620)~0→γΞ is evaluated to be approximately 118.76-174.21 keV,which may be accessible for the LHCb experiment.If Ξ(1620) is aΛK-∑K molecule,the radiative transition strength Ξ(1620)~0→γKA is considerably small and the decay width is of the order of 0.01 eV.Future experimental measurements of these processes can be useful to test the molecule interpretations of the Ξ(1620).     

Analysis of the 1S and 2S states of ΛQ and ΞQ with QCD sum rules

In this article,we study the ground states and the first radial excited states of the flavor antitriplet heavy baryon states ∧Q and ΞQ with the spin-parity JP=1/2+ by carrying out operator product expansion up to vacuum condensates of dimension 10 in a consistent way.We observe for the first time that the higher dimensional vacuum condensates play an important role,and obtain very stable QCD sum rules with variations of the Borel parameters for the heavy baryon states.The predicted masses 6.08±0.09 GeV,2.78±0.08 GeV,and 2.96±0.09 GeV for the first radial excited states ∧b(2 S),∧c(2 S),and Ξc(2 S),respectively,are in excellent agreement with the experimental data and support assigning ∧b(6072),∧c(2765),and Ξc(2980/2970) to be the first radial excited states of ∧b,∧c,and Ξc,respectively.The predicted mass 6.24±0.07 GeV for Ξb(2 S) can be confirmed using experimental data in the future.     

Investigation of Z-boson decay into Ξbc and Ξbb baryons within the NRQCD factorization approach

Z-boson decay provides a good opportunity to search for the Ξ_bQ baryon because a large number of its events can be collected at high energy colliders.In this paper,we perform a complete investigation of the indirect production of the Ξ_bc and Ξ_bb baryons via the Z-boson decay process Z→Ξ_bQ+■+■ with a Q=(c,b) quark under the NRQCD factorization approach.After considering the contribution from the diquark states ■,■ and ■,the calculated branching fraction...     

Analysis of Z_(cs)(3985) as the axialvector tetraquark state

In this study,we choose the scalar and axialvector diquark operators in the color antitriplet as the fundamental building blocks to construct four-quark currents and investigate the diquark-antidiquark type axialvector tetraquark states ccus in the framework of the QCD sum rules.The predicted tetraquark mass M_Z=3.99±0.09 GeV is in excellent agreement with the experimental value 3985.2_(-2.0)~(+2.1)±1.7 MeV from the BESⅢ collaboration,which supports identifying Z_(cs)(3985) as the cousin of Zc(3900) with quantum numbers J~(PC)=1~(+-).We take into account the light flavor S U(3) mass-breaking effect to estimate the mass spectrum of the diquark-antidiquark type hidden-charm tetraquark states with strangeness according to previous studies.     

Electromagnetic form factors of Λ_c in the space-like momentum region

We studied the electromagnetic form factors(EMFFs) of Λ_c and the contributions of the quark and diquark currents to the EMFFs of Λ_c in the space-like region in the Bethe–Salpeter equation approach with instantaneous approximation. In this picture, baryon Λ_c can be regarded as a two-body c(ud) system. We found that for different values of parameters the contribution of quark and diquark currents to the EMFFs of Λ_c is very different,while their total contribution to the EMFFs of Λ_c is similar. The EMFFs of Λ_c are similar to those of other baryons(proton, Ξ~-, and Σ~+) with a peak at ω = 1, where ω = v′·v is the velocity transfer between the initial state(with velocity v) and the final state(with velocity v′) of Λ_c.     

NLO effects for Ω_(QQQ) baryons in QCD Sum Rules

We study the triply heavy baryons Ω_(QQQ)(Q=c,b) in the QCD sum rules by performing the first calculation of the next-to-leading order(NLO) contribution to the perturbative QCD part of the correlation functions.Compared with the leading order(LO) result,the NLO contribution is found to be very important to the Ω_(QQQ).This is because the NLO not only results in a large correction but also reduces the parameter dependence,making the Borel platform more distinct,especially for the Qbbb in the ■ scheme,where the platform appears only at NLO but not at LO.Particularly,owing to the inclusion of the NLO contribution,the renormalization schemes(■ and On-Shell) dependence and the scale dependence are significantly reduced.Consequently,after including the NLO contribution to the perturbative part in the QCD sum rules,the masses are estimated to be 4.53_(-0.11) ~(+0.26) GeV for Ω_(ccc) and14.27_(-0.32) ~(+0.33) GeV for Ω_(bbb),where the results are obtained at μ=M_B with errors including those from the variation of the renormalization scale μ in the range(0.8-1.2)M_B.A careful study of the μ dependence in a wider range is further performed,which shows that the LO results are very sensitive to the choice of μ whereas the NLO results are considerably better.In addition to the μ=M_B result,a more stable value,(4.75-4.80) GeV,for the Ω_(ccc) mass is found in the range of μ=(1.2-2.0)M_B,which should be viewed as a more relevant prediction in our NLO approach because of μ dependence.     

A note on ■_c(3055)~ and ■_c(3123)~

The Babar Collaboration announced two new excited charmed baryons■_c(3055)~ and■_c(3123)~ . We study their strong decays assuming they are D-wave states.Some assignments are excluded by comparing our numerical results with the experimental values of the total widths of ■_c(3055)~ and■_c(3123)~ .We also suggest some possible decay modes,which will be helpful to determine the properties of■_c(3055)~ and■_c(3123)~ .     

Pressure-induced isostructural phase transition in α-Ni(OH)_2 nanowires

High pressure structural phase transition of monoclinic paraotwayite type α-Ni(OH)_2 nanowires with a diameter of15 nm–20 nm and a length of several micrometers were studied by synchrotron x-ray diffraction(XRD) and Raman spectra.It is found that the α-Ni(OH)_2 nanowires experience an isostructural phase transition associated with the amorphization of the H-sublattice of hydroxide in the interlayer spaces of the two-dimensional crystal structure at 6.3 GPa–9.3 GPa. We suggest that the isostructural phase transition can be attributed to the amorphization of the H-sublattice. The bulk moduli for the low pressure phase and the high pressure phase are 41.2(4.2) GPa and 94.4(5.6) GPa, respectively. Both the pressure-induced isostructural phase transition and the amorphization of the H-sublattice in the α-Ni(OH)_2 nanowires are reversible upon decompression. Our results show that the foreign anions intercalated between the α-Ni(OH)_2 layers play important roles in their structural phase transition.     

Exploratory study of possible resonances in heavy meson-heavy baryon coupled-channel interactions

We use a unitary coupled-channel model to study the DA_c-D∑_c interactions. In our calculation, SU(3)flavor symmetry is applied to determine the coupling constants. Several resonant and bound states with different spin and parity are dynamically generated in the mass range of the recently observed pentaquarks. The approach is also extended to the hidden beauty sector to study the BΛ_b-B∑_b interactions. As the b-quark mass is heavier than the c-quark mass, there are more resonances observed for the BΛ_b-B∑_b interactions and they are more tightly bound.     

A note on Ξc(3055)+ and Ξc(3123)+

The Babar Collaboration announced two new excited charmed baryons Ξ_c(3055)⁺ and Ξ_c(3123)⁺. We study their strong decays assuming they are D-wave states. Some assignments are excluded by comparing our numerical results with the experimental values of the total widths of Ξ_c(3055)⁺ and Ξ_c(3123)⁺. We also suggest some possible decay modes, which will be helpful to     

A model with flavor-dependent gauged U(1)_(B-L_1)×U(1)_(B-L_2-L_3) symmetry

We propose a new model with flavor-dependent gauged U(1)_(B-L_1)×U(1)_(B-L_2-L_3) symmetry in addition to the flavor-blind symmetry in the Standard Model. The model contains three right-handed neutrinos to cancel gauge anomalies and several Higgs bosons to construct the measured fermion masses. We show the generic features of the model and explore its phenomenology. In particular, we discuss the current bounds on the extra gauge bosons from the K and B meson mixings as well as the LEP and LHC data, and focus on their contributions to the lepton flavor violating processes of ?_(i+1) →?_iγ(i=1,2).