Observation of $J/psi p$ resonances consistent with pentaquark states in ${Lambda_b^0to J/psi K^-p}$ decays


Abstract in English

Observations of exotic structures in the $J/psi p$ channel, that we refer to as pentaquark-charmonium states, in $Lambda_b^0to J/psi K^- p$ decays are presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3/fb acquired with the LHCb detector from 7 and 8 TeV pp collisions. An amplitude analysis is performed on the three-body final-state that reproduces the two-body mass and angular distributions. To obtain a satisfactory fit of the structures seen in the $J/psi p$ mass spectrum, it is necessary to include two Breit-Wigner amplitudes that each describe a resonant state. The significance of each of these resonances is more than 9 standard deviations. One has a mass of $4380pm 8pm 29$ MeV and a width of $205pm 18pm 86$ MeV, while the second is narrower, with a mass of $4449.8pm 1.7pm 2.5$ MeV and a width of $39pm 5pm 19$ MeV. The preferred $J^P$ assignments are of opposite parity, with one state having spin 3/2 and the other 5/2.

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