Recent observations of charmed baryons and their implications for hadronic production processes

Even though the first observation of possible charmed baryon production was prior to the discovery of the charmed D-meson, very much less is known experimentally, about charmed baryons than about charmed mesons. This is due to the fact that charmed mesons-at least the lowest mass states D, D*, have been extensively produced and studied at SPEAR and DORIS, while this is not yet the case for charmed baryons. Actually all the experimental evidences for charmed particles, mesons as well as baryons, not coming from e/sup +/e/sup -/ collisions, have been up to this year either indirect (emission of prompt leptons in hadronic interactions) or scanty (a few events in emulsions or bubble chambers). After a critical review of the early results on charmed baryons, recent observations in neutrino and hadron interactions will be described and their bearing on the understanding of hadronic production processes will be discussed. (34 refs).