The Decay Omega^- -> Xi^- pi^+ pi^- in Chiral Perturbation Theory

Abstract

We study the decay Omega^- -> Xi^- pi^+ pi^- in heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory. At leading order, the decay is completely dominated by the Xi^{*0}(1530) intermediate state, and the predicted rate and Xi^-pi^+ mass distribution are in conflict with currently available data. It is possible to resolve this conflict by considering additional contributions at next-to-leading order.

Comments: 12 pages, 5 figures