Measurement of the Lifetime of the B_c^± Meson in the Semileptonic Decay Channel

Authors

V. M. Abazov, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia
Kenneth A. Bloom, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Gregory Snow, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
D0 Collaboration

Date of this Version

3-6-2009

Comments

Published in PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 102, 092001 (2009). Copyright © 2009 The American Physical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

Using approximately 1.3 fb^-1 of data collected by the D0 detector between 2002 and 2006, we measure the lifetime of the B_c^± meson in the B_c^± → J/ψμ^± + X final state. A simultaneous unbinned likelihood fit to the J/ψ + μ invariant mass and lifetime distributions yields a signal of 881 ± 80(stat) candidates and a lifetime measurement of τ(B_c^±) = 0.448_-0.036^+0.038(stat) ± 0.032(syst) ps.