Observation of two new excited ${\it\Xi}_b^0$ states decaying to ${\it\Lambda}_b^0 K^-\pi^+$

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of two new excited ${\it\Xi}_b^0$ baryon states in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV, measuring their masses, widths, and significance, consistent with theoretical predictions for 1D ${\it\Xi}_b^0$ resonances.

Contribution

First observation of two narrow excited ${\it\Xi}_b^0$ states with precise mass measurements and significance levels, confirming theoretical models of baryon excitations.

Findings

Masses measured at approximately 6327 and 6333 MeV

Mass splitting of about 5.4 MeV between states

Significance levels exceeding five standard deviations

Abstract

Two narrow resonant states are observed in the ${\it\Lambda}_b^0 K^-\pi^+$ mass spectrum using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13$~\rm TeV$, collected by the LHCb experiment and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $6~{\rm fb}^{-1}$. The minimal quark content of the ${\it\Lambda}_b^0 K^-\pi^+$ system indicates that these are excited ${\it\Xi}_b^0$ baryons. The masses of the ${\it\Xi}_b(6327)^0$ and ${\it\Xi}_b(6333)^0$ states are $m({\it\Xi}_b(6327)^0) = 6327.28 ^{\,+\,0.23}_{\,-\,0.21} \pm 0.12 \pm 0.24~{\rm MeV}$ and $m({\it\Xi}_b(6333)^0) = 6332.69 ^{\,+\,0.17}_{\,-\,0.18} \pm 0.03 \pm 0.22~{\rm MeV}$, respectively, with a mass splitting of $\Delta m = 5.41 ^{\,+\,0.26}_{\,-\,0.27} \pm 0.12 ~{\rm MeV}$, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic and due to the ${\it\Lambda}_b^0$ mass measurement. The measured natural widths of these states are consistent with zero, with upper limits of $\Gamma({\it\Xi}_b(6327)^0)<2.20~(2.56) ~{\rm MeV}$ and $\Gamma({\it\Xi}_b(6333)^0)<1.60~(1.92) ~{\rm MeV}$ at a $90\%~(95\%)$ credibility level. The significance of the two-peak hypothesis is larger than nine (five) Gaussian standard deviations compared to the no-peak (one-peak) hypothesis. The masses, widths and resonant structure of the new states are in good agreement with the expectations for a doublet of 1$D$ ${\it\Xi}_b^0$ resonances.