Search for prompt production of pentaquarks in charm hadron final states

Abstract

A search for hidden-charm pentaquark states decaying to a range of $\hat{I}{\pounds }_c\bar{D}$ and $\hat{I}{›}_c\bar{D}$ final states, as well as doubly-charmed pentaquark states to $\hat{I}{\pounds }_{c}D$ and $\hat{I}{›}_c^{+}D$, is made using samples of proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $5.7f{b}^{-1}$ recorded by the LHCb detector at $\sqrt{s}=13TeV$. Since no significant signals are found, upper limits are set on the pentaquark yields relative to that of the $\hat{I}{›}_c^{+}$ baryon in the $\hat{I}{›}_c^{+}\to p{K}^{-}\ddot{I}{€}^{+}$ decay mode. The known pentaquark states are also investigated, and their signal yields are found to be consistent with zero in all cases.

All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2023-018.html (LHCb public pages)