Excited decuplet baryons from QCD sum rules

A calculation of the mass spectrum in the baryon decuplet sector is presented using the method of QCD sum rules. Sum rules are derived for states of spin-parity 3/2± and 1/2+ using both the conventional method and a parity-projection method. The predictive ability of the sum rules is explored by a Monte Carlo based analysis procedure in which the three phenomenological parameters (mass, coupling, threshold) are treated as free parameters and fitted simultaneously. Taken together, the results give an improved determination of the mass spectrum in this sector from the perspective of non-perturbative QCD.