Hot Topics from the BABAR Experiment

With a sample of about 384 million BBbar pairs recorded with the BABAR detector, we search for the flavor-changing charged current transition B+ -> \tau\nu and perform an amplitude analysis of the effective flavor-changing neutral current transition B+ -> \phi(1020)K*(892)+. We also extend our search for other K* final states in the decay B0 -> phi(1020)K*0 with a large K*0 -> K+pi- invariant mass. Two samples of events with one reconstructed hadronic B decay or one reconstructed semileptonic B decay are selected, and in the recoil a search for B+ -> \tau\nu is performed. We find a 2.6 sigma (3.2 sigma not including expected background uncertainty) excess in data which can be converted to a preliminary branching fraction central value of BR(B+ -> \tau\nu ) = (1.20 +0.40-0.38 +0.29-0.30 +-0.22) 10^-4. With the decay B+- -> \phi(1020)K*(892)+-, twelve parameters are measured, where our measurements of f_L=0.49+-0.05+-0.03, f_perp=0.21+-0.05+-0.02, and the strong phases point to the presence of a substantial helicity-plus amplitude from a presently unknown source.Comment: 14 pages, 33 postscript figures, proceedings of the 5th Flavor Physics And CP Violation Conference (FPCP 2007) C07/05/1

Transition form factors of B decays into p-wave axial-vector mesons in the perturbative QCD approach

The $B_{u,d,s}\to V,A$ form factors are studied in perturbative QCD approach ($V,A$ denote a vector meson and two kinds of p-wave axial-vector mesons: $^3P_1$ and $^1P_1$ states, respectively.). The form factors are directly studied in the large recoiling region and extrapolated to the whole kinematic region within the dipole parametrization. Adopting decay constants with different signs for the two kinds of axial-vectors, we find that the two kinds of $B\to A$ form factors have the same sign. The two strange mesons $K_{1A}$ and $K_{1B}$ mix with each other via the SU(3) symmetry breaking effect. In order to reduce the ambiguities in the mixing angle between $K_{1A}$ and $K_{1B}$, we propose a model-independent way that utilizes the B decay data. Most of the branching fractions of the semilteptonic $B\to Al\bar \nu_l$ decays are of the order $10^{-4}$, which still need experimental tests in the on-going and forthcoming experiments.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure

Study of Polarization in B -> VT Decays

In this paper, we examine B -> VT decays (V is a vector and T is a tensor meson), whose final-state particles can have transverse or longitudinal polarization. Measurements have been made of B -> \phi K_2^*, and it is found that fT/fL is small, where fT (fL) is the fraction of transverse (longitudinal) decays. We find that the standard model (SM) naively predicts that fT/fL << 1. The two extensions of the naive SM which have been proposed to explain the large fT/fL in B -> \phi K^* -- penguin annihilation and rescattering -- make no firm predictions for the polarization in B -> \phi K_2^*. The two new-physics scenarios, which explain the data in B -> \pi K and the \phi (\rho) K^* polarization measurements, can reproduce the fT/fL data in B -> \phi K_2^* only if the B -> T form factors obey a certain hierarchy. Finally, we present the general angular analysis which can be used to get helicity information using two- and three-body decays.Comment: 15 pages, latex, 3 figures (enclosed), several changes made, conclusions unchanged, publication info adde

Internal alignement of the BABAR silicon vertex tracking detector

The BABAR Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT ) is a five-layer double-sided silicon detector designed to provide precise measurements of the position and direction of primary tracks, and to fully reconstruct low-momentum tracks produced in e+e¡ collisions at the PEP-II asymmetric collider at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. This paper describes the design, implementation, performance and validation of the local alignment procedure used to determine the relative positions and orientations of the 340 Silicon Vertex Trackerwafers. This procedure uses a tuned mix of lab-bench measurements and complementary in-situ experimental data to control systematic distortions. Wafer positions and orientations are determined by minimizing a Â2 computed using these data for each wafer individually, iterating to account for between-wafer correlations. A correction for aplanar distortions of the silicon wafers is measured and applied. The net effect of residual mis-alignments on relevant physical variables evaluated in special control samples is presented

The Discovery Potential of a Super B Factory

The Proceedings of the 2003 SLAC Workshops on flavor physics with a high luminosity asymmetric e+e- collider. The sensitivity of flavor physics to physics beyond the Standard Model is addressed in detail, in the context of the improvement of experimental measurements and theoretical calculations.Comment: 476 pages. Printed copies may be obtained by request to [email protected] . arXiv admin note: v2 appears to be identical to v

Measurement of the Time-Dependent CP Asymmetry of Partially Reconstructed B0->D*+D*- Decays

We present a new measurement of the time-dependent CP asymmetry of B0->D*+D*- decays using (471+-5) million BBbar pairs collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II B Factory at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Using the technique of partial reconstruction, we measure the time-dependent CP asymmetry parameters S=-0.34+-0.12+-0.05$ and C=+0.15+-0.09+-0.04. Using the value for the CP-odd fraction R_perp=0.158+-0.028+-0.006, previously measured by BaBar with fully reconstructed B0->D*+D*- events, we extract the CP-even components S+=-0.49+-0.18+-0.07+-0.04 and C+=+0.15+-0.09+-0.04. In each case, the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic; the third uncertainty on S+ is the contribution from the uncertainty on R_perp. The measured value of the CP-even component S+ is consistent with the value of sin(2Beta) measured in b->(ccbar)s transitions, and with the Standard Model expectation of small penguin contributions.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Measurement of B(B-->X_s {\gamma}), the B-->X_s {\gamma} photon energy spectrum, and the direct CP asymmetry in B-->X_{s+d} {\gamma} decays

The photon spectrum in B --> X_s {\gamma} decay, where X_s is any strange hadronic state, is studied using a data sample of (382.8\pm 4.2) \times 10^6 e^+ e^- --> \Upsilon(4S) --> BBbar events collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II collider. The spectrum is used to measure the branching fraction B(B --> X_s \gamma) = (3.21 \pm 0.15 \pm 0.29 \pm 0.08)\times 10^{-4} and the first, second, and third moments = 2.267 \pm 0.019 \pm 0.032 \pm 0.003 GeV,, )^2> = 0.0484 \pm 0.0053 \pm 0.0077 \pm 0.0005 GeV^2, and )^3> = -0.0048 \pm 0.0011 \pm 0.0011 \pm 0.0004 GeV^3, for the range E_\gamma > 1.8 GeV, where E_{\gamma} is the photon energy in the B-meson rest frame. Results are also presented for narrower E_{\gamma} ranges. In addition, the direct CP asymmetry A_{CP}(B --> X_{s+d} \gamma) is measured to be 0.057 \pm 0.063. The spectrum itself is also unfolded to the B-meson rest frame; that is the frame in which theoretical predictions for its shape are made.Comment: 37 pages, 19 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. No analysis or results have changed from previous version. Some changes to improve clarity based on interactions with Phys. Rev. D referees, including one new Figure (Fig. 13), and some minor wording/punctuation/spelling mistakes fixe

Search for lepton-number violating processes in B+ -> h- l+ l+ decays

We have searched for the lepton-number violating processes B+ -> h- l+ l+ with h- = K-/pi- and l+ = e+/mu+, using a sample of 471+/-3 million BBbar events collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We find no evidence for these decays and place 90% confidence level upper limits on their branching fractions Br(B+ -> pi- e+ e+) K- e+ e+) pi- mu+ mu+) K- mu+ mu+) < 6.7 x 10^{-8}.Comment: 8 pages, 4 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. R