- Open Access
Strong decays of the hidden-charm molecular pentaquarks
Phys. Rev. D 113, 114011 – Published 5 June, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/4qws-btvg
Abstract
We investigate the strong decays of the recently observed hidden-charm pentaquarks , , and , as well as and , within the molecular framework using the effective Lagrangian approach. We construct the effective Lagrangians describing the S-wave couplings between these pentaquarks and their constituent hadrons, namely and , and determine the coupling constants via the residues of the scattering -matrix at the bound-state poles. Our results show that the decay widths are sensitive to the cutoff parameters in the form factors, whereas the branching fractions exhibit only weak dependence. Using to calibrate the cutoff range, we further explore the spin assignments of and . Our calculations favor the assignment where the lower-mass state carries higher spin and the higher-mass state carries lower spin . In addition, the experimental widths of and can both be well reproduced under the molecular interpretation. We look forward to future experimental analyses with more accumulated data to clarify whether the lineshape of contains contributions from both spin- and spin- states.
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