Deep sub-threshold $Ξ^-$ production in Ar+KCl reactions at 1.76A GeV

Abstract

We report first results on a deep sub-threshold production of the doubly strange hyperon $Ξ^-$ in a heavy-ion reaction. At a beam energy of 1.76A GeV the reaction Ar+KCl was studied with the High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) at SIS18/GSI. A high-statistics and high-purity $Λ$ sample was collected, allowing for the investigation of the decay channel $Ξ^- \to Λπ^-$. The deduced $Ξ^-/(Λ+Σ^0)$ production ratio of $(5.6 \pm 1.2 ^{+1.8}_{-1.7})\cdot 10^{-3}$ is significantly larger than available model predictions.

4 pages, including 4 figures