Production of Xi(0)(c) and Xi(b) in Z decays and lifetime measurement of Xi(b)

The charmed strange baryon Xi(c)(0) was searched for in the decay channel Xi(c)(0) -> Xi(-)pi(+), and the beauty strange baryon Xi(b) in the inclusive channel Xi(b) -> Xi(-)l(-)(nu) over barX, using the 3.5 million hadronic Z events collected by the DELPHI experiment in the years 1992-1995. The Xi(-) was reconstructed through the decay AT, using a constrained fit method for cascade decays. An iterative discriminant analysis was used for the Xi(c)(0) and Xi(b) selection. The production rates were measured to be f(Xi c)(0) x BR(Xi(c)(0) -> Xi(-)pi(+) = (4.7 +/- 1.4(stat.) +/- 1.1(syst.)) x 10(-4) per hadronic Z decay, and BR(b -> Xi(b))xBR(Xi(b) -> Xi(-)l(-)X) = (3.0 +/- 1.0(stat.) +/- 0.3(syst.)) x 10(-4) for each lepton species (electron or muon). The lifetime of the Xi(b) baryon was measured to be tau(Xi b) = 1.45(-0.43)(+0.55)(stat.)+/- 0.13(syst.) ps. A combination with the previous DELPHI lifetime measurement gives tau(Xi b) = 1.48(-0.31)(+0.40)(stat.)+/- 0.12(syst.) ps.