${\Lambda }_c^{+}(2940)$: A Possible Molecular State?

Abstract

A new baryonic state ${\Lambda }_c(2940{)}^{+}$ has recently been discovered by the Babar collaboration in the $D^{0}p$ channel. Later Belle collaboration also observed this state in the ${\Sigma }_c(2455{)}^{0,++}{\pi }^{\pm }\to {\Lambda }_c^{+}{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ channel. The mass of ${\Lambda }_c(2940{)}^{+}$ is just a few MeV below the sum of $D^{\ast 0}$ and $p$ masses suggesting a possibility that this state may be a $D^{\ast 0}p$ molecular state. In this paper we study whether such a molecular state can be consistent with data. We find that the molecular structure can explain data and that if ${\Lambda }_c(2940{)}^{+}$ is a $D^{\ast 0}p$ molecular state it is likely a $1/2^{-}$ state. Several other decays modes are also suggested to further test the molecular structure of ${\Lambda }_c^{+}(2940)$.

Comments: 8 pages, 9 figures, 1 table. Some descriptions changed, more references added and typos corrected. Published version in EPJC