Multistrange Baryon production from strangeness-exchange reactions

Abstract

Using a gauged flavor SU(3) invariant hadronic Lagrangian, we study [] production from [ ] induced reactions on[] and [] in a coupled-channel approach. Including the four channels of [], and [], we solve the Bethe-Salpeter equation in the K-matrix approximation by neglecting the off-shell contribution in the intermediate states. For the transition potential which drives the higher-order contribution, we consider all allowed Born diagrams in the s, t, and u channels. With coupling constants determined from the SU(3) symmetry with empirical input, we find that the cross sections for the reactions [], and [] all have values of a few mb. In contrast to the results from the lowest-order Born approximation, the magnitude of these cross sections is less sensitive to the values of the cut-off parameters in the form factors that are introduced at interaction vertices to take into account the finite hadron sizes. We have also evaluated the differential cross sections for these reactions and find that their angular dependence obtained from the coupled-channel approach is similar to that from the Born approximation. From the transition matrix in the coupled-channel approach, we have further calculated the cross sections for the elastic process [], and[]as well as for the inelastic processes [] and[ ]. Implications of the reactions studied here in [] production from relativistic heavy ion collisions are discussed.