Observation of a new charmed baryon

Abstract Using the ARGUS detector at the e + e − storage ring DORISII at DESY, we have observed a new charmed baryonstate in the channel Λ c + π + π − . (All references to a specific charged state also imply the charge conjugate state.) The mass of this state was measured to be (2626.6 ± 0.5 ± 1.5) MeV/ c 2 . The product of the production cross section and branching ratio for this channel was determined to be (11.5 ± 2.5 ± 3.0) pb, and the natural width estimated to be smaller than 3.2 MeV/ c 2 at 90% CL.