Pentaquark baryon production at the relativistic heavy ion collider

Abstract

Production of pentaquark Θ + baryons in central relativistic heavy ion collisions is studied in a kinetic model. Assuming that a quark–gluon plasma is produced in the collisions, we first determine the number of Θ + produced from the quark–gluon plasma using a parton coalescence model, and then take into consideration its production and absorption in subsequent hadronic matter via the reactions K N ↔ Θ , K N ↔ π Θ and π N ↔ K ¯ Θ . We find that although the final Θ + number is affected by hadronic interactions, it remains sensitive to the initial number of Θ + produced from the quark–gluon plasma, particularly in the case of a small Θ + width as imposed by the K + N and K + d scattering data. Because of small baryon chemical potential in the hot dense matter produced in these collisions, the number of produced anti- Θ is only slightly smaller than that of Θ + .