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First Determination of the Spin and Parity of a Charmed-Strange Baryon, Ξc(2970)+
We report results from a study of the spin and parity of Ξc(2970)+ using a 980 fb−1 data sample collected by the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e− collider. The decay angle distributions in the chain Ξc(2970)+→Ξc(2645)0π+→Ξ+cπ−π+ are analyzed to determine the spin of this charmed-strange baryon. The angular distributions strongly favor the Ξc(2970)+ spin J=1/2 over 3/2 or 5/2, under an assumption that the lowest partial wave dominates in the decay. We also measure the ratio of Ξc(2970)+ decay branching fractions R=B[Ξc(2970)+→Ξc(2645)0π+]/B[Ξc(2970)+→Ξ′0cπ+]=1.67±0.29(stat.)+0.15−0.09(syst.)±0.25(IS), where the last uncertainty is due to possible isospin-symmetry-breaking effects. This R value favors the spin-parity JP=1/2+ with the spin of the light-quark degrees of freedom sl=0. This is the first determination of the spin and parity of a charmed-strange baryon.