Measurement of $\Lambda^{+}_{c}$ production in neutrino charged-current interactions

A measurement of $\Lambda_c^+$ production in neutrino nucleon charged-current interactions is presented. In a sub-sample of about 50 000 interactions located in the emulsion target of the CHORUS detector exposed to the wide band neutrino beam of the CERN SPS, candidates for decays of short lived particles were identified using new automatic scanning systems and later confirmed through visual inspection. Criteria based on the flight length allowed a statistical separation among the different charm species thus enabling a sample particularly rich in $\Lambda_c^+$ to be defined. At an average neutrino energy of $27$ \GeV, the product ${\sigma(\Lambda_c^+)}/{\sigma(CC)} \times BR(\Lambda_c^+ \rightarrow 3p) $ was measured to be $(0.37 \pm 0.10(stat) \pm 0.02(syst) ) \times 10^{-2}$, while the values of $(1.54\pm0.35(stat)\pm0.18(syst) ) \times 10^{-2} $ and of $0.24 \pm 0.07(stat) \pm 0.04(syst)$ were obtained for ${\sigma(\Lambda_c^+)}/{\sigma(CC)}$ and $BR(\Lambda_c^+ \rightarrow 3p)$ respectively.