Photoproduction of pentaquark cascades from nucleons

Abstract

The cross sections for production of pentaquark $\Xi^+_5$ from the reaction $\gamma p\to K^0K^0\Xi^+_5$ and $\Xi^{--}_5$ from the reaction $\gamma n\to K^+K^+\Xi^{--}_5$ are evaluated in a hadronic model that includes their couplings to both $\Sigma\bar K$ and $\Sigma\bar K^*$. With these coupling constants determined from the empirical $\pi NN(1710)$ and $\rho NN(1710)$ coupling constants by assuming that $\Xi^+_5$, $\Xi^{--}_5$, and N(1710) belong to the same antidecuplet of spin 1/2 and positive parity, and using form factors at strong interaction vertices similar to those for pentaquark $\Theta^+$ production in photonucleon reactions, we obtain a cross section of about 0.03-0.6 nb for the reaction $\gamma p\to K^0K^0\Xi^+_5$ and about 0.1-0.6 nb for the reaction $\gamma n\to K^+K^+\Xi^{--}_5$ at photon energy $E_\gamma=4.5$ GeV, depending on the value of the coupling constant $g_{K^*\Sigma\Xi_5}$.