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Selected open-charm decays of the narrow $P_{c}$ states: Quark-interchange predictions and pion-exchange sensitivity

Department of Physics, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat-395007, India

^*Contact author: vandankp12998@gmail.com
^†Contact author: raiajayk@gmail.com

Phys. Rev. D 114, 074062 – Published 30 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6ldz-y3vh

Abstract

The proximity of the narrow $P_{c} (4312)$ , $P_{c} (4440)$ , and $P_{c} (4457)$ structures to the $Σ_{c} {\bar{D}}^{(*)}$ thresholds motivates their interpretation as hadronic molecules. We treat the $P_{c} (4312)$ as an $S$ -wave $Σ_{c} \bar{D}$ state with $J^{P} = 1 / 2^{-}$ and examine both $J^{P} = 1 / 2^{-}$ and $3 / 2^{-} Σ_{c} {\bar{D}}^{*}$ assignments for each heavier peak. The selected $S$ -wave open-charm transitions to $Λ_{c} {\bar{D}}^{(*)}$ are calculated at Born order in the quark-interchange model, including the prior and post rearrangement diagrams and their color, flavor, spin, and spatial matrix elements. Across the input variations considered, the quark-interchange widths robustly favor $Λ_{c} {\bar{D}}^{*}$ over $Λ_{c} \bar{D}$ for every $J^{P} = 1 / 2^{-}$ assignment. At either heavier peak mass, the $Λ_{c} {\bar{D}}^{*}$ width for $J^{P} = 3 / 2^{-}$ is suppressed by approximately one order of magnitude relative to $J^{P} = 1 / 2^{-}$ , providing a potential decay-based discriminator of the spin assignments. The large channel hierarchies arise from spatial overlaps and interference between spin-independent and hyperfine contributions and are not universal heavy-quark-spin-symmetry ratios. We also explore a retarded one-pion-exchange transition at first Born order. It affects $P_{c} (4312) \to Λ_{c} {\bar{D}}^{*}$ most strongly, while the coherent widths remain sensitive to the cutoff, energy-transfer prescription, short-distance subtraction, and unresolved relative matching sign. The quark-interchange hierarchies are therefore the central predictions, whereas the pion-exchange results quantify matching sensitivity. Measurements of the $Λ_{c} {\bar{D}}^{*}$ modes can directly test these patterns.

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Particle interactions

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References (40)

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 074062– Published 30 October, 2026

Vol. 114, Iss. 7 — 1 October 2026

Received 24 August 2026
Accepted 7 October 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6ldz-y3vh

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP³.

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Selected open-charm decays of the narrow $P_{c}$ states: Quark-interchange predictions and pion-exchange sensitivity

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Selected open-charm decays of the narrow Pc states: Quark-interchange predictions and pion-exchange sensitivity

Abstract

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (40)

Selected open-charm decays of the narrow $P_{c}$ states: Quark-interchange predictions and pion-exchange sensitivity