Multidimensional Resonance Analysis of $\Lambda^+_c \to pK^- \pi^+$
G. F. Fox, USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25) · 1999
The $\Lambda^+_c \to pK^- \pi^+$ decay is the first baryon decay which opens itself up to a Dalitz plot type analysis. However, unlike the previous Dalitz analyses on charm mesons, the baryon analysis involves particles with non-zero spin, and thus we are no longer dealing with a simple two dimensional problem, but a five dimensional problem. Using conventional and Neural Network techniques we have optimized the significance of our $\Lambda_c$ signal. Then we modeled our background and acceptance in five dimensions and used the Helicity Formalism outlined by Jacob and Wick [Jac 95] to model the signal density. Ultimately, we used MINUIT to optimize the 34 coeffcients needed to describe the decay.