Search for Strange Pentaquark Production in e+e- Annihilations at sqrt(s)=10.58 GeV and in Upsilon(4S) Decays

TL;DR

This study conducted an inclusive search for strange pentaquark states in electron-positron collisions at 10.58 GeV, finding no evidence and setting upper limits on their production rates, which are lower than those for ordinary baryons.

Contribution

First search for strange pentaquarks in e+e- collisions at this energy, providing new limits on their production rates and challenging previous claims of their existence.

Findings

No evidence of pentaquark production was observed.

Set upper limits on pentaquark production cross sections.

Limits are below rates for similar-mass baryons.

Abstract

We present an inclusive search for strange pentaquark production in e+e- interactions at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV using 123 fb-1 of data collected with the BaBar detector. We look for the states that have been reported previously: the Theta+(1540), interpreted as a ududsbar state; and the Xi--(1860) and Xi0(1860), candidate dsdsubar and uss(uubar+ddbar) states, respectively. In addition we search for other members of the antidecuplet and corresponding octet to which these states are thought to belong. We find no evidence for the production of such states and set preliminary limits on their production cross sections as functions of c.m. momentum. The corresponding limits on the Theta+(1540) and Xi--(1860) rates per e+e- to qqbar event are well below the rates measured for ordinary baryons of similar mass.