Measurement of CP-Violating Asymmetries In Neutral B Meson Decays Into Three Kaons
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics successfully describes all of the observed interactions of the fundamental particles (with the exception of non-zero neutrino mass). Despite this enormous success, the SM is widely viewed as an incomplete theory. For example, the size of the asymmetry between matter and antimatter is not nearly large enough to account for the abundance of matter observed throughout the universe. It is thus believed that as-yet-unknown physical phenomena must exist that introduce new asymmetries between matter and antimatter. In this thesis, by studying decays that happen only rarely in the SM, we make measurements of asymmetries between matter and antimatter that are potentially sensitive to the existence of processes beyond the SM. At the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B Factory at SLAC, electrons and positrons are collided at the Υ(4S) resonance to create pairs of B mesons. The BABAR detector is used to measure the subsequent decay products. Using 383 million Υ(4S) → B$$\bar{B}$$ decays, we study the decay B0 → K+K-K0. In the SM, this decay is dominated by loop amplitudes. Asymmetries between matter and antimatter (CP asymmetries) are extracted by measuring the time-dependence of the complex amplitudes describing the B0 and $$\bar{B}$$0 decays as functions of their kinematics. The interference between decays with and without the mixing of neutral B mesons allows for the measurement of the angle βeff, which is a measure of CP violation. We also measure the direct CP asymmetry ACP. Data samples reconstructed from three K0 modes (KS0 → π+π-, KS0 → π0π0, and KL0) are fit simultaneously. They find ACP = -0.015 ± 0.077 ± 0.053 and βeff = 0.352 ± 0.076 ± 0.026 rad, corresponding to a CP violation significance of 4.8σ. A second solution near π/2-βeff is disfavored with a significance of 4.5σ. In a subsequent fit to the region with mK+K- > 1.1 GeV/c2, they find ACP = -0.054 ± 0.102 ± 0.060 and βeff = 0.436 ± 0.087-0.031+0.055 rad, excluding the possibility that βeff = 0 at 5.1σ. They use the data with msub K+K- < 1.1 GeV/c2 to extract Cp asymmetries separately for B0 decays to Φ(1020)K0 and f0(980)K0, finding βeff, Φ = 0.11 ± 0.14 ± 0.06 and βeff,f0 = 0.14 ± 0.15 ± 0.05.
- Research Organization:
- SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- OSTI ID:
- 943483
- Report Number(s):
- SLAC-R-911; TRN: US0900410
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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