Regarding the possibility to observe the LHCb hidden-charm strange pentaquark Pcs(4459)0 in antikaon-induced J/ψ meson production on protons and nuclei near the J/ψΛ production threshold

Abstract

We study the near-threshold J/ψ meson production on protons and nuclei by considering incoherent direct non-resonant K−p→J/ψΛ and two-step resonant K−p→Pcs(4459)0→J/ψΛ charmonium production processes. We calculate the absolute excitation functions, energy and momentum distributions for the non-resonant, resonant and for the combined (non-resonant plus resonant) production of J/ψ mesons off protons as well as off carbon and tungsten target nuclei at near-threshold incident antikaon energies by considering these elementary production channels as well as by assuming the spin-parity assignment of the hidden-charm resonance Pcs(4459)0 with strangeness as JP=(3/2)− within six different scenarios for the branching ratio Br[Pcs(4459)0→J/ψΛ] of the decay Pcs(4459)0→J/ψΛ. We show that the combined observables considered reveal definite sensitivity to these scenarios, which means that they may be an important tool to provide further evidence for the existence of the pentaquark Pcs(4459)0 resonance and to get valuable information on its decay rate to the J/ψΛ final state. Their measurements could be performed in the future at the J-PARC Hadron Experimental Facility.