Observation And Study Of B Meson Decays With Lambda C Baryons With The Babar Detector

Observation And Study of B Meson Decays with Lambda(C) Baryons with the BaBar Detector

Study of B-Meson Decays to Final States with a Single Charm Baryon

A study of B-meson decays to final states with a single charm baryon is presented based on data recorded by the BABAR detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Although the B meson is the lightest bottom-flavored meson, it is heavy enough to decay to a baryon made of three quarks and an antibaryon made of three antiquarks. By studying the baryonic weak decays of the B meson, we can investigate baryon production mechanisms in heavy meson decays. In particular, we measure the rates of the decays B- → [Lambda]+c$\bar{p}$[pi]- and $\bar{B}$0 → [Lambda]+c$\bar{p}$. Comparing these rates, we confirm an observed trend in baryonic B decays that the decay with the lower energy release, B- → [Lambda]+c$\bar{p}$[pi]-, is favored over $\bar{B}$0 → [Lambda]+c$\bar{p}$. The dynamics of the baryon-antibaryon ([Lambda]+c$\bar{p}$) system in the three-body decay also provide insight into baryon-antibaryon production mechanisms. The B- → [Lambda]+c$\bar{p}$[pi]- system is a laboratory for searches for excited #c baryon states; we observe the resonant decays B- → [Sigma]c(2455) 0$\bar{p}$ and B- → [Sigma]c(2800) 0$\bar{p}$. This is the first observation of the decay B- → [Sigma]c(2800) 0$\bar{p}$; however, the mass of the observed #c(2800)0 state is inconsistent with previous measurements. Finally, we examine the angular distribution of the B- → [Sigma]c(2455) 0$\bar{p}$ decays and measure the spin of the B- → [Sigma]c(2455) 0$\bar{p}$ baryon to be J = 1/2, as predicted by the quark model.

A Measurement of the Lambda-c Baryon Decays to Proton Kaon( - ) Pion(+) Absolute Branching Fraction with the BaBar Detector

A measurement of [Beta]([Lambda][sub c][sup +] [yields] pK[sup -] [pi][sup +]) is presented based on data collected with the BaBar detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Branching fraction measurements represent a large portion of what is known about short-lived particles, the strong force that binds them, and the weak force that causes them to decay. While the majority of branching fraction measurements are done as ratios between two decay modes, it is the absolute measurements of a few particular decay modes that set the scale for these relative measurements. The [Lambda][sub c][sup +] particle is one of the four weakly decaying hadrons into which more than 90% of the known heavy quark hadrons will eventually decay. Thus, an absolute measurement of the branching fraction for [Lambda][sub c][sup +] [yields] pK[sup -][pi][sup +] is important for many studies of the heavy quark sector, from spectroscopy to B meson decays. The number of produced [Lambda][sub c][sup +]'s is inferred from the number of events reconstructed with an antiproton and an accompanying D meson. The final result of [Beta]([Lambda][sub c][sup +] [yields] pK[sup -] [pi][sup +]) = [6.12 [+-] 0.31(stat.) [+-] 0.42(syst.)]% represents more than a two-fold improvement in precision over the world average. The dominant source of systematic uncertainty is the irreducible background of [Xi][sub c] baryons.