Results on the production of the double-strange cascade hyperon $mathrm{Xi^-}$ are reported for collisions of p,(3.5~GeV),+,Nb, studied with the High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) at SIS18 at GSI Helmholtzzentrum for Heavy-Ion Research, Darmstadt. For the first time, subthreshold $mathrm{Xi^-}$ production is observed in proton-nucleus interactions. Assuming a $mathrm{Xi^-}$ phase-space distribution similar to that of $mathrm{Lambda}$ hyperons, the production probability amounts to $P_{mathrm{Xi^-}}=(2.0,pm0.4,mathrm{(stat)},pm 0.3,mathrm{(norm)},pm 0.6,mathrm{(syst)})times10^{-4}$ resulting in a $mathrm{Xi^-/(Lambda+Sigma^0)}$ ratio of $P_{mathrm{Xi^-}}/ P_{mathrm{Lambda+Sigma^0}}=(1.2pm 0.3,mathrm{(stat)}pm0.4,mathrm{(syst)})times10^{-2}$. Available model predictions are significantly lower than the estimated $mathrm{Xi^-}$ yield.
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