Charmed Baryons with $J = 3/2$

Abstract

The width of a recently discovered excited charmed-strange baryon, a candidate for a state $Ξ_c^*$ with spin 3/2, is calculated. In the absence of configuration mixing between the ground-state (spin-1/2) charmed-strange baryon $Ξ_c^{(a)}$ and the spin-1/2 state $Ξ_c^{(s)}$ lying about 95 MeV above it, one finds $\tilde Γ(Ξ^*_c \to Ξ_c^{(a)} π) = (3/4) \tilde Γ(Ξ^* \to Ξπ)$ and $\tilde Γ(Ξ^*_c \to Ξ_c^{(s)} π) = (1/4) \tilde Γ(Ξ^* \to Ξπ)$, where the tilde denotes the partial width with kinematic factors removed. Assuming a kinematic factor for P-wave decay of $p_{\rm cm}^3$, one predicts $Γ(Ξ^*_c \to Ξ_c^{(a)} π) = 2.3$ MeV, while the $Ξ^*_c \to Ξ_c^{(s)} π$ channel is closed. Some suggestions are given for detecting the $Σ_c^*$, the spin-3/2 charmed nonstrange baryon, and the $Ω_c^*$, the spin-3/2 charmed doubly-strange baryon.