Production of pentaquarks in $pA$-collisions

Abstract

We argue that a hidden-charm pentaquark recently observed in weak decays of $\Lambda_{b}$ can be produced in proton-nucleus collisions without electroweak intermediaries. We analyze the production cross-section for several scenarios of internal structure and find that a cross-section is sizable. This process can be studied both in collider as well as in fixed-target experiments. In the former case, the pentaquarks are produced at very forward rapidities, whereas in the latter case, pentaquarks are produced with relatively small rapidities and can be easily detected via invariant mass distribution of a forward $J/\psi$ and a comoving proton. Additionally, the suggested process allows to check the existence of a neutral pentaquark $P_{c}^{0}$ (an isospin partner of $P_{c}^{+}$) predicted in several models. The rapidity and transverse momentum distributions of pentaquarks could provide comprehensive information about the $\bar{c}c$ component of this exotic baryon.