Subthreshold Ξ- Production in collisions of p (3.5GeV)+Nb

Agakishiev, G.; Arnold, O.; Balanda, A.; Belver, D.; Belyaev, A. V.; Berger Chen, J. C.; Blanco, A.; Böhmer, M.; Boyard, J. L.; Cabanelas, P.; Chernenko, S.; Dybczak, A.; Epple, E.; Fabbietti, L.; Fateev, O. V.; Finocchiaro, P; Fonte, P.; Friese, J.; Fröhlich, I.; Galatyuk, T.; Garzón, J. A.; Gernhäuser, R.; Göbel, K.; Golubeva, M.; González Díaz, D.; Guber, F.; Gumberidze, M.; Heinz, T.; Hennino, T.; Holzmann, R.; Ierusalimov, A.; Iori, I.; Ivashkin, A.; Jurkovic, M.; Kämpfer, B.; Karavicheva, T.; Koenig, I.; Koenig, W.; Kolb, B. W.; Kornakov, G.; Kotte, R.; Krása, A.; Krizek, F.; Krücken, R.; Kuc, H.; Kühn, W.; Kugler, A.; Kurepin, A.; Ladygin, V.; Lalik, R.; Lang, S.; Lapidus, K.; Lebedev, A.; Liu, T.; Lopes, L.; Lorenz, M.; Maier, L.; Mangiarotti, A.; Markert, J.; Metag, V.; Michalska, B.; Michel, J.; Müntz, C.; Müntzer, R.; Naumann, L.; Pachmayer, Y. C.; Palka, M.; Parpottas, Y.; Pechenov, V.; Pechenova, O.; Pietraszko, J.; Przygoda, W.; Ramstein, B.; Reshetin, A.; Rustamov, A.; Sadovsky, A.; Salabura, P.; Schmah, A.; Schwab, E.; Siebenson, J.; Sobolev, Y. u. G.; Spataro, STEFANO GIOVANNI; Spruck, B.; Ströbele, H.; Stroth, J.; Sturm, C.; Tarantola, A.; Teilab, K.; Tlusty, P.; Traxler, M.; Trebacz, R.; Tsertos, H.; Vasiliev, T.; Wagner, V.; Weber, M.; Wendisch, C.; Wüstenfeld, J.; Yurevich, S.; Zanevsky, Y. V.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.212301

Results on the production of the double strange cascade hyperon 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 Xi(-) production is observed in proton-nucleus interactions. Assuming a Xi(-) phase-space distribution similar to that of. hyperons, the production probability amounts to P Xi- = [2.0 +/- 0.4(stat) +/- 0.3(norm) +/- 0.6(syst)] x 10(-4) resulting in a Xi(-)/d(Lambda + Sigma(0)) ratio of P Xi-/P Lambda+Sigma 0 = [1.2 +/- 0.3(stat) +/- 0.4(syst)] x 10(-2). Available model predictions are significantly lower than the measured Xi(-) yield.