Measurement of the B meson Lifetimes with the Collider Detector at Fermilab

Abstract

The lifetimes of the B{sup -}, B{sup 0} and B{sub s}{sup 0} mesons are measured using partially reconstructed semileptonic decays. Following semileptonic decay processes and their charge conjugates are used for this analysis: B{sup -}/B{sup 0} {yields} {ell}{sup -}{nu}D{sup 0}X; B{sup -}/B{sup 0} {yields} {ell}{sup -}{nu}D*{sup +}X; B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} {ell}{sup -}{nu}D{sub s}{sup +}x, where {ell}{sup -} denotes either a muon or electron. The data are collected during 2002-2004 by the 8 GeV single lepton triggers in CDF Run II at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Corresponding integrated luminosity is about 260 and 360 pb{sup -1} used for the B{sup -}/B{sup 0} and B{sub s}{sup 0} lifetime analyses, respectively. With the single lepton triggers, events which contain a muon or electron with a transverse momentum greater than 8 GeV/c are selected. For these lepton candidates, further lepton identification cuts are applied to improve purity of the B semileptonic decay signal. After the lepton selection, three types of charm mesons associated with the lepton candidates are reconstructed. Following exclusive decay modes are used for the charm meson reconstruction: D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}; D*{sup +} {yields} D{sup 0}{pi}{sub s}{sup +}, followed by D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}; D{sub s}{supmore » +} {yields} {phi}{pi}{sup +}, followed by {phi} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}. Here {pi}{sub s}{sup +} denotes a slow pion from D*{sup +} decay. Species of the reconstructed charm meson identify the parent B meson species. However in the B{sup -}/B{sup 0} semileptonic decays, both mesons decay into the identical lepton + D{sup 0} final state. To solve this mixture of the B components in the D{sup 0} sample, they adopt the following method: First among the inclusive D{sup 0} sample, they look for the D*{sup +} {yields} D{sup 0} {pi}{sub s}{sup +} signal. The inclusive D{sup 0} sample is then split into the two samples of D{sup 0} mesons which are from the D*{sup +} meson and not from D*{sup +}. They use the fact that D*{sup +} sample is dominated by the B{sup 0} component, and the D{sup 0} sample after excluding the D*{sup +} events is dominated by the B{sup -} component. Fraction of remaining mixture of B{sup -}/B{sup 0} components in each sample is estimated using a Monte Carlo simulation. From the lepton + charm meson pairs, they measure the B meson decay lengths to extract the lifetimes. Since the B meson momentum, necessary to calculate the B meson decay time, is not fully reconstructed in semileptonic decays, the missing momentum is corrected using a Monte Carlo simulation during lifetime fits. Also, contributions of various kinds of backgrounds are considered and subtracted. As a result of the fit, the B meson lifetimes are measured to be c{tau}(B{sup -}) = 495.6 {+-} 8.6 {sub -12.8}{sup +13.3} {micro}m; c{tau}(B{sup 0}) = 441.5 {+-} 10.9 {+-} 17.0 {micro}m; c{tau}(B{sub s}{sup 0}) = 414.0 {+-} 16.6 {sub -13.8}{sup +15.6} {micro}m or {tau}(B{sup 0}) = 1.653 {+-} 0.029 {sub -0.031}{sup +0.033} ps; {tau}(B{sup 0}) = 1.473 {+-} 0.036 {+-} 0.054 ps; {tau}(B{sub s}{sup 0}) = 1.381 {+-} 0.055 {sub -0.046}{sup +0.052} ps, and the lifetime ratios to be {tau}(B{sup 0})/{tau}(B{sup 0}) = 1.123 {+-} 0.040 {sub -0.039}{sup +0.041}; {tau}(B{sub s}{sup 0})/{tau}(B{sup 0}) = 0.938 {+-} 0.044 {sub -0.046}{sup +0.049} where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic.« less