Ξ* photoproduction from threshold to W=3.3 GeV

The doubly strange Ξ baryons provide an effective way to study a puzzle called the missing-baryons problem where both quark models and lattice gauge theory predict more baryon excited states than are seen experimentally. However, few of these excited states have been observed with any certainty. Here, high-mass Ξ∗ states have been searched for in photoproduction with the detector of the CLAS Collaboration, and upper limits for the total cross sections have been established from threshold to W=3.3 GeV. In addition, the total cross sections of the ground-state Ξ−(1320) and first excited state Ξ−(1530) are presented, extending significantly the center-of-mass energy range of previous data.