Measurement of the production cross section of prompt Ξ_c⁰ baryons at midrapidity in pp collisions at √s = 5.02 TeV

The transverse momentum (p_T) differential cross section of the charm-strange baryon Ξc0 is measured at midrapidity (|y| < 0.5) via its semileptonic decay into e⁺Ξ⁻ν_e in pp collisions at √s = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The ratio of the p_T-differential Ξc0-baryon and D⁰-meson production cross sections is also reported. The measurements are compared with simulations with different tunes of the PYTHIA 8 event generator, with predictions from a statistical hadronisation model (SHM) with a largely augmented set of charm-baryon states beyond the current lists of the Particle Data Group, and with models including hadronisation via quark coalescence. The p_T-integrated cross section of prompt Ξc0-baryon production at midrapidity is also reported, which is used to calculate the baryon-to-meson ratio Ξc0/D⁰ = 0.20 ± 0.04 (stat.)−0.07+0.08 (syst.). These results provide an additional indication of a modification of the charm fragmentation from e⁺e⁻ and e⁻p collisions to pp collisions.