Another Source of Baryons in $B$ Meson Decays

It is usually assumed that the production of baryons in $B$ meson decays is induced primarily by the quark level process $b\to c\bar ud$, where the charm quark hadronizes into a charmed baryon. With this assumption, the $\Lambda_c$ momentum spectrum would indicate that the transition $B\to\Lambda_c X$ is dominated by multi-body $B$ decays. However, a closer examination of the momentum spectrum reveals that the mass $m_X$ against which the $\Lambda_c$ is recoiling almost always satisfies $m_X\agt m_{\Xi_c}$. This fact leads us to examine the hypothesis that the production of charmed baryons in $B$ decays is in fact dominated by the underlying transition $b\to c\bar cs$, and is seen primarily in modes with two charmed baryons in the final state. We propose a number of tests of this hypothesis. If this mechanism is indeed important in baryon production, then there are interesting consequences and applications, including potentially important implications for the ``charm deficit'' in $B$ decays.