Open Access

$Λ_{c} (2910)$ and $Λ_{c} (2940)$ productions in $p \bar{p}$ annihilation

Quan-Yun Guo ¹ and Dian-Yong Chen ^1,2,*

¹School of Physics, Southeast University, Nanjing 210094, People’s Republic of China
²Lanzhou Center for Theoretical Physics, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China

^*Contact author: chendy@seu.edu.cn

Phys. Rev. D 113, 054043 – Published 25 March, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/7l6b-nkvd

Abstract

In this work, we investigate the productions of $Λ_{c} (2910)$ and $Λ_{c} (2940)$ in the $p \bar{p} \to {\bar{Λ}}_{c} D^{0} p$ process by utilizing an effective Lagrangian approach, where both $Λ_{c} (2910)$ and $Λ_{c} (2940)$ are considered as $D^{*} N$ molecular states with $J^{P} = 1 / 2^{-}$ and $3 / 2^{-}$ , respectively. In addition to the $t$ -channel $D$ and $D^{*}$ exchanges, the contribution from light-meson exchange is also considered. At $\sqrt{s} = 10 GeV$ , our estimations indicate that the total cross sections for $p \bar{p} \to {\bar{Λ}}_{c} D^{0} p$ are $({130.7}_{- 103.9}^{+ 397.1}) nb$ , where the central value is estimated with $Λ_{r} = 1.1 GeV$ , and the uncertainties are resulted from the variation of parameter $Λ_{r}$ from 1.0 to 1.2 GeV. Our results indicate that the light-meson exchange diagrams are very important, which provide a very large, smooth background. Moreover, the estimations of the $D^{0} p$ invariant mass spectrum reveal that the peak structure between 2.9 and 3.0 GeV primarily originates from $Λ_{c} (2910)$ , while the signal of $Λ_{c} (2940)$ is about 1 order smaller than that of $Λ_{c} (2910)$ . Furthermore, the resulting Dalitz plot is estimated with $\sqrt{s} = 8 GeV$ . It is expected that our estimations in the present work can be tested by future experiments at $\bar{P} ANDA$ .

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (76)

S. K. Choi et al. (Belle Collaboration), Observation of a narrow charmonium-like state in exclusive $B^{\pm} \to K^{\pm} π^{+} π^{-} J / ψ$ decays, Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 262001 (2003).
B. Aubert et al. (BABAR Collaboration), Observation of a broad structure in the $π^{+} π^{-} J / ψ$ mass spectrum around $4.26 GeV / c^{2}$ , Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 142001 (2005).
K. Abe et al. (Belle Collaboration), Observation of a new charmonium state in double charmonium production in $e^{+} e^{-}$ annihilation at $\sqrt{s} \approx 10.6 GeV$ , Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 082001 (2007).
X. L. Wang et al. (Belle Collaboration), Observation of two resonant structures in $e^{+} e^{-} \to π^{+} π^{-} ψ (2 S)$ via initial state radiation at Belle, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 142002 (2007).
M. Ablikim et al. (BESIII Collaboration), Observation of a charged charmoniumlike structure $Z_{c} (4020)$ and search for the $Z_{c} (3900)$ in $e^{+} e^{-} \to π^{+} π^{-} h_{c}$ , Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 242001 (2013).
M. Ablikim et al. (BESIII Collaboration), Observation of a charged $(D {\bar{D}}^{*})^{\pm}$ mass peak in $e^{+} e^{-} \to π D {\bar{D}}^{*}$ at $\sqrt{s} = 4.26 GeV$ , Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 022001 (2014).
R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration), Observation of $J / ψ ϕ$ structures consistent with exotic states from amplitude analysis of $B^{+} \to J / ψ ϕ K^{+}$ decays, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 022003 (2017).
K. Chilikin et al. (Belle Collaboration), Observation of an alternative $χ_{c 0} (2 P)$ candidate in $e^{+} e^{-} \to J / ψ D \bar{D}$ , Phys. Rev. D 95, 112003 (2017).
R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration), First observation of excited $Ω_{b}^{-}$ states, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 082002 (2020).
R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration), Observation of an exotic narrow doubly charmed tetraquark, Nat. Phys. 18, 751 (2022).
Y. Dong, A. Faessler, and V. E. Lyubovitskij, Description of heavy exotic resonances as molecular states using phenomenological Lagrangians, Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 94, 282 (2017).
Y. R. Liu, H. X. Chen, W. Chen, X. Liu, and S. L. Zhu, Pentaquark and Tetraquark states, Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 107, 237 (2019).
R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration), Observation of $J / ψ p$ resonances consistent with pentaquark states in $Λ_{b}^{0} \to J / ψ K^{-} p$ decays, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 072001 (2015).
R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration), Model-independent evidence for $J / ψ p$ contributions to $Λ_{b}^{0} \to J / ψ p K^{-}$ decays, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 082002 (2016).
R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration), Observation of a narrow pentaquark state, $P_{c} (4312)^{+}$ , and of two-peak structure of the $P_{c} (4450)^{+}$ , Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 222001 (2019).
R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration), Evidence of a $J / ψ Λ$ structure and observation of excited $Ξ^{-}$ states in the $Ξ_{b}^{-} \to J / ψ Λ K^{-}$ decay, Sci. Bull. 66, 1278 (2021).
R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration), Observation of a $J / ψ Λ$ resonance consistent with a strange pentaquark candidate in $B^{-} \to J / ψ Λ \bar{p}$ decays, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 031901 (2023).
H. X. Chen, W. Chen, and S. L. Zhu, Possible interpretations of the $P_{c} (4312)$ , $P_{c} (4440)$ , and $P_{c} (4457)$ , Phys. Rev. D 100, 051501 (2019).
R. Chen, Z. F. Sun, X. Liu, and S. L. Zhu, Strong LHCb evidence supporting the existence of the hidden-charm molecular pentaquarks, Phys. Rev. D 100, 011502 (2019).
F. K. Guo, H. J. Jing, U. G. Meißner, and S. Sakai, Isospin breaking decays as a diagnosis of the hadronic molecular structure of the $P_{c} (4457)$ , Phys. Rev. D 99, 091501 (2019).
M. Z. Liu, Y. W. Pan, F. Z. Peng, M. Sánchez Sánchez, L. S. Geng, A. Hosaka, and M. Pavon Valderrama, Emergence of a complete heavy-quark spin symmetry multiplet: Seven molecular pentaquarks in light of the latest LHCb analysis, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 242001 (2019).
C. J. Xiao, Y. Huang, Y. B. Dong, L. S. Geng, and D. Y. Chen, Exploring the molecular scenario of $P_{c} (4312)$ , $P_{c} (4440)$ , and $P_{c} (4457)$ , Phys. Rev. D 100, 014022 (2019).
C. W. Xiao, J. Nieves, and E. Oset, Heavy quark spin symmetric molecular states from ${\bar{D}}^{(*)} Σ_{c}^{(*)}$ and other coupled channels in the light of the recent LHCb pentaquarks, Phys. Rev. D 100, 014021 (2019).
J. R. Zhang, Exploring a $Σ_{c} \bar{D}$ state: With focus on $P_{c} (4312)^{+}$ , Eur. Phys. J. C 79, 1001 (2019).
Z. G. Wang and X. Wang, Analysis of the strong decays of the $P_{c} (4312)$ as a pentaquark molecular state with QCD sum rules, Chin. Phys. C 44, 103102 (2020).
Y. J. Xu, C. Y. Cui, Y. L. Liu, and M. Q. Huang, Partial decay widths of $P_{c} (4312)$ as a $\bar{D} Σ_{c}$ molecular state, Phys. Rev. D 102, 034028 (2020).
T. J. Burns and E. S. Swanson, Molecular interpretation of the $P_{c} (4440)$ and $P_{c} (4457)$ states, Phys. Rev. D 100, 114033 (2019).
Y. H. Lin and B. S. Zou, Strong decays of the latest LHCb pentaquark candidates in hadronic molecule pictures, Phys. Rev. D 100, 056005 (2019).
J. He and D. Y. Chen, Molecular states from $Σ_{c}^{(*)} {\bar{D}}^{(*)} - Λ_{c} {\bar{D}}^{(*)}$ interaction, Eur. Phys. J. C 79, 887 (2019).
M. L. Du, V. Baru, F. K. Guo, C. Hanhart, U. G. Meißner, J. A. Oller, and Q. Wang, Interpretation of the LHCb $P_{c}$ states as hadronic molecules and hints of a narrow $P_{c} (4380)$ , Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 072001 (2020).
G. J. Wang, L. Y. Xiao, R. Chen, X. H. Liu, X. Liu, and S. L. Zhu, Probing hidden-charm decay properties of $P_{c}$ states in a molecular scenario, Phys. Rev. D 102, 036012 (2020).
H. Xu, Q. Li, C. H. Chang, and G. L. Wang, Recently observed $P_{c}$ as molecular states and possible mixture of $P_{c} (4457)$ , Phys. Rev. D 101, 054037 (2020).
Y. J. Xu, Y. L. Liu, and M. Q. Huang, The magnetic moment of $P_{c} (4312)$ as a $\bar{D} Σ_{c}$ molecular state, Eur. Phys. J. C 81, 421 (2021).
X. Z. Ling, J. X. Lu, M. Z. Liu, and L. S. Geng, $P_{c} (4457) \to P_{c} (4312) π / γ$ in the molecular picture, Phys. Rev. D 104, 074022 (2021).
K. Chen, R. Chen, L. Meng, B. Wang, and S. L. Zhu, Systematics of the heavy flavor hadronic molecules, Eur. Phys. J. C 82, 581 (2022).
M. L. Du, Z. H. Guo, and J. A. Oller, Insights into the nature of the $P_{c s} (4459)$ , Phys. Rev. D 104, 114034 (2021).
R. Chen and X. Liu, Mass behavior of hidden-charm open-strange pentaquarks inspired by the established $P_{c}$ molecular states, Phys. Rev. D 105, 014029 (2022).
R. Chen, Can the newly reported $P_{c s} (4459)$ be a strange hidden-charm $Ξ_{c} {\bar{D}}^{*}$ molecular pentaquark?, Phys. Rev. D 103, 054007 (2021).
J. T. Zhu, L. Q. Song, and J. He, $P_{c s} (4459)$ and other possible molecular states from $Ξ_{c}^{(*)} {\bar{D}}^{(*)}$ and $Ξ_{c}^{'} {\bar{D}}^{(*)}$ interactions, Phys. Rev. D 103, 074007 (2021).
C. W. Xiao, J. J. Wu, and B. S. Zou, Molecular nature of $P_{c s} (4459)$ and its heavy quark spin partners, Phys. Rev. D 103, 054016 (2021).
Q. Wu and D. Y. Chen, Production of $P_{ψ s}^{Λ} (4338)$ from $Ξ_{b}$ decay, Phys. Rev. D 109, 094003 (2024).
Q. Wu and D. Y. Chen, Production of $P_{c}$ states from $Λ_{b}$ decay, Phys. Rev. D 100, 114002 (2019).
Q. Wu, D. Y. Chen, and R. Ji, Production of $P_{c s} (4459)$ from $Ξ_{b}$ decay, Chin. Phys. Lett. 38, 071301 (2021).
B. Aubert et al. (BABAR Collaboration), Observation of a charmed baryon decaying to $D^{0} p$ at a mass near $2.94 GeV / c^{2}$ , Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 012001 (2007).
K. Abe et al. (Belle Collaboration), Experimental constraints on the possible $J^{P}$ quantum numbers of the $Λ_{c} (2880)^{+}$ , Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 262001 (2007).
Y. B. Li et al. (Belle Collaboration), Evidence of a new excited charmed baryon decaying to $Σ_{c} (2455)^{0, + +} π^{\pm}$ , Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 031901 (2023).
S. Navas et al. (Particle Data Group), Review of particle physics, Phys. Rev. D 110, 030001 (2024).
J. R. Zhang, $S$ -wave $D^{(*)} N$ molecular states: $Σ_{c} (2800)$ and $Λ_{c} (2940)^{+}$ ?, Phys. Rev. D 89, 096006 (2014).
Q. Xin, X. S. Yang, and Z. G. Wang, The singly charmed pentaquark molecular states via the QCD sum rules, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 38, 2350123 (2023).
Y. Yan, X. Hu, Y. Wu, H. Huang, J. Ping, and Y. Yang, Pentaquark interpretation of $Λ_{c}$ states in the quark model, Eur. Phys. J. C 83, 524 (2023).
Y. Dong, A. Faessler, T. Gutsche, and V. E. Lyubovitskij, Strong two-body decays of the $Λ_{c} (2940)^{+}$ in a hadronic molecule picture, Phys. Rev. D 81, 014006 (2010).
Y. Dong, A. Faessler, T. Gutsche, S. Kumano, and V. E. Lyubovitskij, Radiative decay of $Λ_{c} (2940)^{+}$ in a hadronic molecule picture, Phys. Rev. D 82, 034035 (2010).
Y. Dong, A. Faessler, T. Gutsche, S. Kumano, and V. E. Lyubovitskij, Strong three-body decays of $Λ_{c} (2940)^{+}$ , Phys. Rev. D 83, 094005 (2011).
Z. L. Yue, Q. Y. Guo, and D. Y. Chen, Strong decays of the $Λ_{c} (2910)$ and $Λ_{c} (2940)$ in the $N D^{*}$ molecular frame, Phys. Rev. D 109, 094049 (2024).
C. W. Shen, Y. H. Lin, and H. J. Jing, Towards the LHCb pentaquark modes in the single-charm sector, arXiv:2511.15649.
X. Y. Wang, A. Guskov, and X. R. Chen, $Λ_{c}^{*} (2940)^{+}$ photoproduction off the neutron, Phys. Rev. D 92, 094032 (2015).
J. J. Xie, Y. B. Dong, and X. Cao, Role of the $Λ_{c}^{+} (2940)$ in the $π^{-} p \to D^{-} D^{0} p$ reaction close to threshold, Phys. Rev. D 92, 034029 (2015).
Q. Y. Guo and D. Y. Chen, $Λ_{c} (2910)$ and $Λ_{c} (2940)$ productions in $π^{-} p$ scattering process, Phys. Rev. D 111, 114011 (2025).
M. F. M. Lutz et al. ( $\bar{P} ANDA$ Collaboration), Physics performance report for $\bar{P} ANDA$ : Strong interaction studies with antiprotons, arXiv:0903.3905.
G. Janssen, K. Holinde, and J. Speth, $π ρ$ correlations in the $N N$ potential, Phys. Rev. C 54, 2218 (1996).
F. Q. Wu and B. S. Zou, Role of $t$ -channel meson exchange in $S$ -wave $π N$ and $K N$ scattering, Chin. Phys. C 32, 629 (2008).
F. Huang, M. Doring, H. Haberzettl, J. Haidenbauer, C. Hanhart, S. Krewald, U. G. Meissner, and K. Nakayama, Pion photoproduction in a dynamical coupled-channels model, Phys. Rev. C 85, 054003 (2012).
Y. Chen and J. He, Study of $Λ p$ and $\bar{Λ} p$ pscatterings via quasipotential Bethe-Salpeter equation, Phys. Lett. B 871, 140004 (2025).
Y. Dong, A. Faessler, T. Gutsche, and V. E. Lyubovitskij, Role of the hadron molecule $Λ_{c} (2940)$ in the $p \bar{p} \to p D^{0} {\bar{Λ}}_{c} (2286)$ annihilation reaction, Phys. Rev. D 90, 094001 (2014).
D. Y. Chen and X. Liu, Predicted charged charmonium-like structures in the hidden-charm dipion decay of higher charmonia, Phys. Rev. D 84, 034032 (2011).
S. Okubo, SU(4), SU(8) mass formulas and weak interactions, Phys. Rev. D 11, 3261 (1975).
B. C. Jackson, Y. Oh, H. Haberzettl, and K. Nakayama, $\bar{K} + N \to K + Ξ$ reaction and $S = - 1$ hyperon resonances, Phys. Rev. C 91, 065208 (2015).
R. Machleidt, K. Holinde, and C. Elster, The Bonn meson exchange model for the nucleon–nucleon interaction, Phys. Rep. 149, 1 (1987).
C. Schutz, J. Haidenbauer, J. Speth, and J. W. Durso, Extended coupled channels model for $π N$ scattering and the structure of $N^{*} (1440)$ and $N^{*} (1535)$ , Phys. Rev. C 57, 1464 (1998).
S. Janssen, J. Ryckebusch, D. Debruyne, and T. Van Cauteren, Kaon photoproduction: Background contributions, form factors and missing resonances, Phys. Rev. C 65, 015201 (2002).
V. Shklyar, H. Lenske, and U. Mosel, A coupled-channel analysis of $K Λ$ production in the nucleon resonance region, Phys. Rev. C 72, 015210 (2005).
J. J. Xie and B. C. Liu, Role of the $N^{*} (2080)$ in $p p \to p K^{+} Λ (1520)$ and $π^{-} p \to K^{0} Λ (1520)$ reactions, Phys. Rev. C 87, 045210 (2013).
J. H. Christenson, E. Hummel, G. A. Kreiter, J. Sculli, and P. Yamin, Limits on charm production in hadronic interactions near threshold, Phys. Rev. Lett. 55, 154 (1985).
S. Weinberg, Evidence that the deuteron is not an elementary particle, Phys. Rev. 137, B672 (1965).
V. Baru, J. Haidenbauer, C. Hanhart, Y. Kalashnikova, and A. E. Kudryavtsev, Evidence that the $a_{0} (980)$ and $f_{0} (980)$ are not elementary particles, Phys. Lett. B 586, 53 (2004).
Y. H. Lin, C. W. Shen, F. K. Guo, and B. S. Zou, Decay behaviors of the $P_{c}$ hadronic molecules, Phys. Rev. D 95, 114017 (2017).

Phys. Rev. D 113, 054043– Published 25 March, 2026

Vol. 113, Iss. 5 — 1 March 2026

Received 2 October 2025
Accepted 11 March 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/7l6b-nkvd

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.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physical Review D

Reuse & Permissions

Export citation

Export citation

$Λ_{c} (2910)$ and $Λ_{c} (2940)$ productions in $p \bar{p}$ annihilation

Abstract

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (76)

Outline

Information

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation

Λc(2910) and Λc(2940) productions in pp¯ annihilation

Abstract

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (76)

$Λ_{c} (2910)$ and $Λ_{c} (2940)$ productions in $p \bar{p}$ annihilation