Weak decays of charmed baryons

Abstract

We use the quark model framework to calculate the weak decays of the lowest lying charmed baryons into ground state baryons and mesons. We present detailed results on the predicted flavour and multipole composition of the final state configurations which can be tested in the near future. For the decays 1/2+→1/2++0− we also give symmetry and current algebra estimates which we compare with the quark model results. Semileptonic branching ratios in charmed baryon decays are calculated to be of the order of ∼5%. The total lifetime of charmed baryons is predicted to be ∼7 10−14 s which is 5–10 times smaller than the free quark model estimate.