First measurement of the lifetime of the charmed strange baryon Ξc0

Abstract We have observed four unambiguous decays of the charmed strange baryon Ξ c o in the NA32 experiment at CERN. Charge- coupled devices and silicon microstrip detectors were used to reconstruct the decay mode Ξ c o → pK − K ∗ (892) o seen in events produced by the interaction of 230 GeV/ c negative poins and kaons on a copper target. We present the first measurement of the lifetime of the Ξ c o , together with a determination of its mass and production cross section. The resonant components of the Ξ c o decay are studied. We use our earlier measurement of the mass of the Ξ c + in the determination of the isospin mass splitting of the Ξ c states.