Prediction of the masses and decay processes of strange, charmed and bottomed pentaquarks from the linear molecular crypto-heptaquark model

Abstract

In this paper the masses and decay processes of several new strange, charmed and bottomed exotic pentaquarks are predicted. Multiquarks are studied microscopically in a standard quark model. In pure ground-state pentaquarks the short-range interaction is computed and it is shown to be repulsive. The long-range and medium-range interactions are not expected to provide sufficient attraction. An additional quark-antiquark pair is then considered, and this is suggested to produce a narrow linear molecular system. The quarks assemble in three hadronic clusters, and the central hadron provides stability. The possible crypto-heptaquark hadrons with exotic pentaquark flavours, with any number of strange, charmed and bottomed quarks, are listed. Several new exotics may still be observed.