Measurement of the Branching Fraction and Polarization for the Decay B- to D*0 K*-

TL;DR

This paper reports the measurement of the decay rate and polarization of B- to D*0 K*- decays using data from the BaBar detector, providing insights into B meson decay dynamics.

Contribution

First measurement of the branching fraction and polarization for B- to D*0 K*- decay based on a large data sample.

Findings

Branching fraction B(B- -> D*0 K*-) = (8.3 +/- 1.1 (stat) +/- 1.0 (syst)) x 10^-4

Longitudinal polarization fraction GammaL/Gamma = 0.86 +/- 0.06 (stat) +/- 0.03 (syst)

Results improve understanding of B meson decay mechanisms.

Abstract

We present a study of the decay B- -> D*0 K*- based on a sample of 86 million Upsilon(4S) -> BBbar decays collected between 1999 and 2002 with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B-Factory at SLAC. We measure the branching fraction B(B- -> D*0 K*-) = 8.3 +/- 1.1 (stat)} +/- 1.0 (syst) x 10e-4, and the fraction of longitudinal polarization in this decay to be GammaL/Gamma = 0.86 +/- 0.06 +/- (stat) +/- 0.03 (syst).