Showing papers by "Andreas Hoecker published in 2000"

The first year of the BABAR experiment at PEP-II

Abstract: The BABAR detector, situated at the SLAC PEP-II asymmetric e^+e^- collider, has been recording data at energies on and around the Upsilon(4S) resonance since May 1999. In this paper, we briefly describe the PEP-II B Factory and the BABAR detector. The performance presently achieved by the experiment in the areas of tracking, vertexing, calorimetry and particle identification is reviewed. Analysis concepts that are used in the various papers submitted to this conference are also discussed.

Exclusive B decays to charmonium final states

Abstract: We report on exclusive decays of B mesons into final states containing charmonium using data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II storage rings. The charmonium states considered here are J/psi, psi(2S), and chi_C1. Branching fractions for several exclusive final states, a measurement of the decay amplitudes for the B0 --> J/psi K* decay, and measurements of the B0 and B+ masses are presented. All of the results we present here are preliminary.

A measurement of the charged and neutral B meson lifetimes using fully reconstructed decays

Abstract: Data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC are used to study the lifetimes of the B^0 and B^+ mesons. The data sample consists of 7.4 fb-1 collected near the Y(4S) resonance. B^0 and B^+ mesons are fully reconstructed in several exclusive hadronic decay modes to charm and charmonium final states. The B lifetimes are determined from the flight length difference between the two B mesons which are pair-produced in the Y(4S) decay. The preliminary measurements of the lifetimes are tau_B0 = 1.506+/-0.052(stat)+/-0.029(syst) ps, tau_B+ = 1.602+/-0.049(stat)+/-0.035(syst) ps, and of their ratio is tau_B+/tau_B0 = 1.065+/-0.044(stat)+/-0.021(syst)

Measurement of the time dependence of $B^{0}-\bar B^{0}$ oscillations using inclusive dilepton events

Abstract: A preliminary study of time dependence of B^0-anti-B^0 oscillations using dilepton events is presented. The flavor of the B meson is determined by the charge sign of the lepton. To separate signal leptons from cascade and fake leptons we have used a method which combines several discriminating variables in a neural network. The time evolution of the oscillations is studied by reconstructing the time difference between the decays of the B mesons produced by the Y(4S) decay. With an integrated luminosity of 7.7 fb-1 collected on resonance by BABAR at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory, we measure the difference in mass of the neutral B eigenstates, Delta_mB0 to be (0.507+/-0.015+/-0.022) x 10^{12} hbar-s^{-1}.

Measurement of branching fractions for two-body charmless B decays to charged pions and kaons at BABAR

Abstract: We present preliminary results of a search for charmless two-body B decays to charged pions and kaons using data collected by the BABAR detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's PEP-II storage ring. In a sample of 8.8 million produced B-anti-B pairs we measure the branching fractions B(B^0 --> pi^+pi^-) = (9.3^{+2.6}_{-2.3}^{+1.2}_{-1.4}) x 10^{-6} and B(B^0 --> K^+\pi^-) = (12.5^{+3.0}_{-2.6}^{+1.3}_{-1.7}) x 10^{-6}, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. For the decay B^0 --> K^+K^- we find no significant signal and set an upper limit of B(B^0 --> K^+K^-) 6.6 x 10^{-6} at the 90% confidence level.

Measurements of charmless three-body and quasi-two-body B decays

Abstract: We present preliminary results of a search for several exclusive charmless hadronic B decays from electron-positron annihilation data collected by the BABAR detector near the Y(4S) resonance. These include three-body decay modes with final states h^{+/-}h^{-/+}h^{+/-} and h^{+/-}h^{-/+}pi^0, and quasi-two-body decay modes with final states X^0 h and X^0 K0S, where h = pi or K and X^0 = eta^' or omega. We find B(B^0 --> rho^(-/+)pi^(+/-)) = (49+/-13^{+6}_{-5}) x 10^{-6} and B(B^+ --> eta^' K^+) = (62+/-18+/-8) x 10^{-6} and present upper limits for eight other decays.

Measurement of the $B^{0}$ meson properties using partially reconstructed $B^{0} \to D^{*-}\pi^{+}$ and $B^{0} \to D^{*-}l^{+}\nu$ decay with the BABAR detector

Abstract: The two B^0 decay processes B^0 --> D^{*-}pi^+ and B^0 --> D^{*-}l^+nu have been studied by means of a partial reconstruction technique using a data sample collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II storage ring. To increase statistics, only the soft pi^- from the decay D^{*-} --> pi^-D^0 was used in association with either an oppositely-charged high-momentum pion or lepton. Events were then identified by exploiting the constraints from the simple kinematics of Y(4S) decays. A clear signature is obtained in each case. The position of the B^0 decay point was obtained from the reconstructed pi^+(l^+)pi^- vertex. The position of the other anti-B^0 in the event was also determined. Taking advantage of the boost given to the Y(4S) system by the asymmetric beam energies of PEP-II, the lifetime of the B^0 meson has been measured from the separation distance between the two vertices along the beam direction. The preliminary results are tau_B0 = 1.55+/-0.05+/-0.07 ps, tau_B0 = 1.62+/-0.02+/-0.09 ps, respectively for the B^0 --> D^{*-}pi^+ and B^0 --> D^{*-}l^+nu channels.