Hadronic production of ${\Xi }_{cc}$ at a fixed-target experiment at the LHC

Abstract

In the paper, we present a detailed discussion on the ${\Xi }_{cc}$ production at a fixed target experiment at the LHC (After@LHC). The doubly charmed baryon ${\Xi }_{cc}$ is produced via the channel, $\mathrm{Proton}+\mathrm{Proton}\to {\Xi }_{cc}+X$. In estimating its hadroproduction, we discuss three dominant subprocesses, e.g. $g+g\to {\Xi }_{cc}+\bar{c}+\bar{c}$, $g+c\to {\Xi }_{cc}+\bar{c}$ and $c+c\to {\Xi }_{cc}+g$. During the production, it shall first generate a binding diquark and then form the ${\Xi }_{cc}$ baryon by grabbing soft light-quarks or gluons. We observe that both the two diquark configurations $(cc){[}^3{S}_1{]}_{\bar{3}}$ and $(cc){[}^1{S}_0{]}_6$ can have sizable contributions to the ${\Xi }_{cc}$ production. Large number of ${\Xi }_{cc}$ events can be generated at the After@LHC, whose total production cross section is larger than that of the SELEX experiment by about thirty-five times. It may also possible to study the properties of ${\Xi }_{bc}$ at the After@LHC. More specifically, we shall have about $8.3\times 10^6$ ${\Xi }_{cc}$ events/year and $1.8\times 10^4$ ${\Xi }_{bc}$ events/year when its integrated luminosity approaches to $2$ fb${}^{-1}$/year. Thus, in addition to SELEX and LHC, the After@LHC shall provide another useful platform for studying the baryon properties.

Comments: 6 pages, 7 figures. References updated and discussions improved. To be published in Phys.Rev.D