Study of Double-Charm and Charm-Strange Baryons in Electron-Positron Annihilations

摘要

In this dissertation this author describes a study of both double-charm and charm-strange baryons produced from positron-electron (e+e) annihilations in the BABAR Detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). This study is motivated by my desire to investigate new particles and to test theoretical models of particle physics. Our understanding of the production and decay of baryons is based on the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. As part of the Standard Model, quantum chromodynamics (QCD) provides a framework for predicting what types of quark states can form, and their production and strong decay rates. QCD does not lead to exact calculations, but models are developed to approximate its effects and and to make theoretical predictions. Measurements of particle masses, production rates, decay rates, and decay modes can be compared to theoretical predictions. These comparisons can be used to identify the quantum states of observed baryons. Such comparisons can also be used to evaluate the validity of different theoretical models. Finding new states and new decay modes, and measuring production and strong-decay rates provides tests of phenomenological models of quark interactions in QCD.