Role of high-spin hyperon resonances in the reaction of $\gamma p \to K^+ K^+ \Xi^-$

TL;DR

This study reanalyzes the $\gamma p o K^+ K^+ \Xi^-$ reaction data using an extended relativistic meson-exchange model, highlighting the significant role of high-spin hyperon resonances in matching experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces the inclusion of spin-5/2 and 7/2 hyperon resonances into the model, demonstrating their importance in explaining the reaction data.

Findings

The $\Sigma(2030)$ hyperon resonance with spin-7/2 is crucial for accurate data modeling.

High-spin hyperon resonances significantly improve the agreement between theory and experiment.

The extended model successfully reproduces the $K^+\Xi^-$ invariant mass distribution.

Abstract

The recent data taken by the CLAS Collaboration at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility for the reaction of $\gamma p \to K^+ K^+ \Xi^-$ are reanalyzed within a relativistic meson-exchange model of hadronic interactions. The present model is an extension of the one developed in an earlier work by Nakayama, Oh, and Haberzettl [Phys. Rev. C 74, 035205 (2006)]. In particular, the role of the spin-5/2 and -7/2 hyperon resonances, which were not included in the previous model, is investigated in the present study. It is shown that the contribution of the $\Sigma(2030)$ hyperon having spin-7/2 and positive parity has a key role to bring the model predictions into a fair agreement with the measured data for the $K^+\Xi^-$ invariant mass distribution.