Heavy quark symmetry and weak decays of the $b$-baryons in pentaquarks with a $c\bar{c}$ component

Abstract

The discovery of the baryonic states $P_c^+(4380)$ and $P_c^+(4450)$ by the LHCb collaboration has evoked a lot of theoretical interest. These states have the minimal quark content $c \bar{c} u u d$. Interpreted as hidden charm diquark-diquark-antiquark baryons, the assigned spin and angular momentum quantum numbers are $P_c^+(4380)= \{\bar{c} [cu]_{s=1} [ud]_{s=1}; L_{\mathcal{P}}=0, J^{\rm P}=\frac{3}{2}^- \}$ and $P_c^+(4450)= \{\bar{c} [cu]_{s=1} [ud]_{s=0}; L_{\mathcal{P}}=1, J^{\rm P}=\frac{5}{2}^+ \}$, where $s=0,1$ are the spins of the diquarks and $L_{\mathcal{P}}=0,1$ are the orbital angular momentum quantum numbers of the pentaquarks. We point out that heavy quark symmetry allows only the higher mass pentaquark state $P_c^+(4450)$ having $[ud]_{s=0}$ to be produced in $\Lambda_b^0$ decays, whereas the lower mass state $P_c^+(4380)$ having $[ud]_{s=1}$ is disfavored. Pentaquark spectrum is rich enough to accommodate a $J^P=\frac{3}{2}^-$ state, which has the correct light diquark spin $\{\bar{c} [cu]_{s=1} [ud]_{s=0}; L_{\mathcal{P}}=0, J^{\rm P}=\frac{3}{2}^- \}$ to be produced in $\Lambda_b^0$ decays. Assuming that the orbital mass difference between the charmed pentaquarks is similar to the corresponding mass difference in the charmed baryons, we estimate the mass of the lower pentaquark $J^P=3/2^-$ state to be about 4110 MeV and suggest to reanalyze the LHCb data to search for this third state. We present the spectroscopy of the $S$- and $P$-wave pentaquark states having a $c\bar{c}$ pair and three light quarks using an effective Hamiltonian approach. Some of these pentaquarks can be produced in weak decays of the $b$-baryons. Combining heavy quark symmetry and the $SU(3)_F$ symmetry results in strikingly simple relations among the decay amplitudes which are presented here.