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Search for neutral D meson mixing using semileptonic decays

Kevin T Flood, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Abstract

Based on a 87 fb−1 dataset, a search for D0-D¯0 mixing is made using the semileptonic decay modes D*+ → π +D0, D0 → [K/K*]eν (+c.c.) at the B-Factory facility at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. These modes offer unambiguous initial and final-state charm flavor tags, and allow the combined use of the D0 lifetime and D*+- D0 mass difference (ΔM) in a global likelihood fit. The high-statistics sample of reconstructed unmixed semileptonic D0 decays is used to model both the ΔM distribution and the time-dependence of mixed events directly from the data. Neural networks are used both to select events and to fully reconstruct the D0. A result consistent with no charm mixing has been obtained, Rmix = 0.0023 ± 0.0012(stat) ± 0.0004(sys ). This corresponds to an upper limit of Rmix < 0.0047 (95% C.L.) and Rmix < 0.0043 (90% C.L.). The lowest current published limit on semileptonic charm mixing is 0.005 (90% C.L.) (E791, E.M. Aitala et al., Phys.Rev.Lett. 77 2384 (1996)). The current best published limit using any analysis technique on the total rate of charm mixing is 0.0016 (95% C.L.) (Babar Kπ mixing, B. Aubert et al., Phys.Rev.Lett. 91 171801 (2003)).

Subject Area

Particle physics

Recommended Citation

Flood, Kevin T, "Search for neutral D meson mixing using semileptonic decays" (2004). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI3136725.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI3136725

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