Measurement of charm-particle lifetimes using 300 GeV/c protons and a scintillation camera target

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6214167

Rojek, E J

A generic charm particle lifetime of 1 psec has been measured using a Nai scintillation camera active target in conjunction with a two-arm magnetic spectrometer to study 300 GeV/c p-nucleon interactions. The spectrometer was triggered by detecting a muon from the semi-leptonic decay of a charm particle in one arm; the associatively produced partner was then searched for in the other arm. A total of 55,000 interactions were recorded on film. No fully reconstructed charm decays were found. The 1 psec result is based on a maximum likelihood fit to 43 impact parameters of triggering muons as measured in the target. The impact parameters are believed to be primarily due to the decay of D/sup +/-/ with a small but unknown admixture of D/sup 0/. The background due to short-lived strange particle decay is shown to be small. The D anti D production cross section implied by this measurement is 60 +/- 11 ..mu..b per nucleon. This result is consistent with previous cross section values reported by this collaboration and is compatible with other measurements. These conclusions are highly model dependent.

• Research Organization: Notre Dame Univ., IN (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6214167
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

645103* -- High Energy Physics-- Particle Interactions & Properties-Experimental-- Strong Interactions & Baryon & Meson Properties
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BARYON REACTIONS
BOSONS
CHARGED-PARTICLE REACTIONS
CHARM PARTICLES
CHARMED MESONS
CROSS SECTIONS
D MESONS
DATA
DECAY
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GEV RANGE
GEV RANGE 100-1000
HADRON REACTIONS
HADRONS
INFORMATION
MESONS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEON REACTIONS
NUMERICAL DATA
PARTICLE DECAY
PARTICLE PRODUCTION
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
PARTICLE WIDTHS
PROTON REACTIONS
PSEUDOSCALAR MESONS
SEMILEPTONIC DECAY
STRANGE PARTICLES
WEAK PARTICLE DECAY