Evidence for the exclusive decay B/c+- --> J/psi pi+- and measurement of the mass of the B/c meson

We report first evidence for a fully reconstructed decay mode of the B+/-_c meson in the channel B+/-_c --> J/psi pi++/-, with J/psi --> mu+ mu-. The analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of 360 pb-1 in p anti-p collisions at 1.96 TeV center of mass energy collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We observe 14.6 +/- 4.6 signal events with a background of 7.1 +/- 0.9 events, and a fit to the J/psi pi++/- mass spectrum yields a B+/-_c mass of 6285.7 +/- 5.3 (stat) +/- 1.2 (syst) MeV/c2. The probability of a peak of this magnitude occurring by random fluctuation in the search region is estimated as 0.012\%.

Duke Scholars

Author Alfred T. Goshaw Physics

Author Ashutosh V. Kotwal Physics

Author Mark C. Kruse Physics

Author Seog Oh Physics