Study of Xic -> pKpi reconstruction with the ALICE experiment

Heavy-ion collisions at high energies provide an insight into the behavior of strongly interacting matter. It is predicted that a new state of matter, the so called Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) forms at the high temperature and energy density reached in these collisions. Hadron formation via coalescence of charm quarks with light quarks from the QGP can enhance the production of of charm baryons and charm hadrons with strangeness. The Xic baryon is a charmed and strange baryon. The measurement of its production yield can give essential information about the produced medium. This work is a feasibility study for the reconstruction of the Xic -> pK􀀀pi decay channel using the ALICE detector. A dedicated Monte Carlo simulation which included the decay channel under study was done in order to develop an analysis strategy that makes use of particle identification (PID) methods and exploits the typical displaced topology of the decay. A loose set of cuts aiming for a high signal efficiency was defined and applied on data from proton-proton collisions collected in 2010 and 2012. The signal of the Lc -> pKpi decay channel already studied with the ALICE experiment was clearly visible and used as a control case. An excess with a significance below 4s close to the invariant mass of the Xic was observed.