Sep 7 – 11, 2026
Europe/Madrid timezone

Light Pentaquark Searches with Hadron Beams

Not scheduled
20m

Speaker

Jung Keun ‍Ahn (Korea University)

Description

This talk will cover the current status and future prospects of experimental searches for light pentaquark states with hadron beams, focusing on both light and hidden-flavor candidates such as $\Theta^+$ and $P_{s\bar{s}}$. Special attention will be given to upcoming experiments at the hadron hall of J-PARC and the KLF at JLab, followed by a highlight of a proposed experiment to study $P_{c\bar{c}}$ states in pion-induced reactions near threshold.

Despite thorough searches using several reaction channels, light pentaquark states remain unobserved. This presentation will revisit the upper limits on the existence of the $\Theta^+$ established by high-statistics CLAS measurements, which rule out earlier claims of positive evidence. In combination with other limits from pion- and kaon-induced reactions, constraints on the $KN\Theta^+$ coupling constants will also be discussed. Accordingly, new experiments are planned to search for the $\Theta^+$ in $K^+p$ and $K^+d$ reactions at J-PARC and in $K^0p$ reactions at JLab.

Searches for hidden-strangeness pentaquarks ($P_{s\bar{s}}$) have been conducted in various reactions, including $\phi$ photoproduction near threshold. Unlike the $\Theta^+$, which is at the apex of the pseudoscalar meson-baryon antidecuplet, the $P_{s\bar{s}}$ states form an isospin doublet within the antidecuplet of vector meson and baryon octets. In addition, $P_s$ states, potentially a $\phi\Lambda$ bound system, will be searched for analogously to the $P_{cs}$ state. This talk discusses experimental prospects at J-PARC, where planned hadron-beam experiments will study $P_{s\bar{s}}$ and $P_s$ states.

The advent of high-momentum hadron beamlines at J-PARC enables new studies of hidden-charm pentaquark states ($P_{c\bar{c}}$), especially via the $\pi^-p\to J/\psi n$ reaction. With a separated $K^-$ beam above 10 GeV$/c$, $P_{c\bar{c}}$ can be investigated through the $K^-p\to J/\psi p K^-$ reaction, which shares its final state with the $\Lambda_b\to J/\psi pK^-$ decay. The $K^+p\to J/\psi p K^+$ reaction provides a cleaner channel for $P_{c\bar{c}}$ studies, free from hyperon resonance complications. This talk will address how these experimental strategies advance our understanding of hidden-charm pentaquarks and the motivation for their study.

Author

Jung Keun ‍Ahn (Korea University)

Presentation materials

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