Heavy baryon production and decay

The branching ratio B(Λc→pK-π+) normalizes the production and decay of charmed and bottom baryons. At present, this crucial branching ratio is extracted dominantly from bar B→baryons analyses. This paper questions several of the underlying assumptions and predicts sizable bar B→D(*)N bar N'X transitions, which were traditionally neglected. It predicts B(Λc→pK-π+) to be larger (0.07±0.02) than the world average. Some consequences are briefly mentioned. Several techniques to measure B(Λc→pK-π+) are outlined with existing or soon available data samples. By equating two recent CLEO results, an appendix obtains B(D0→K-π+)=0.035±0.002, which is somewhat smaller than the current world average. copyright 1998 The American Physical Society