Hadronic Branching Fractions of D^0 and D^+, and sigma(e^+e^- --> D bar{D} at E_{cm} = 3.77 GeV

TL;DR

This paper reports precise measurements of D meson hadronic branching fractions and the e+e- to D Dbar cross section at 3.77 GeV using CLEO-c data, providing updated reference values for charm decay studies.

Contribution

It provides the first absolute measurements of several D meson branching fractions and cross sections at this energy, including the effects of final state radiation in efficiency calculations.

Findings

Measured B(D0 to K- pi+) = (3.92±0.08±0.23)%

Measured B(D+ to K- pi+ pi+) = (9.8±0.4±0.8)%

Determined cross sections sigma(e+ e- to D0 D0bar) = (3.47±0.07±0.15) nb and sigma(e+ e- to D+ D-) = (2.59±0.11±0.11) nb

Abstract

Using nearly 60 pb-1 of data collected with the CLEO-c detector at the psi_prime resonance, we measure absolute branching fractions for three D0 and two D+ Cabibbo-allowed hadronic decay modes, and the cross section for e+e- to D Dbar at Ecm = 3.77 GeV. We report preliminary measurements of the reference branching fractions, B(D0 to K- pi+) = (3.92\pm 0.08\pm 0.23)% and B(D+ to K- pi+ pi+) = (9.8\pm 0.4\pm 0.8)%, and preliminary measurements of other major branching fractions, B(D0 to K- pi+ pi0) = (14.3\pm 0.3\pm 1.0)%, B(D0 to K- pi+ pi- pi+) = (8.1\pm 0.2\pm 0.9)%, and B(D+ to Ks pi+) = (1.61\pm 0.08\pm 0.15)%. We determine preliminary values of the cross sections, sigma(e+ e- to D0 D0bar) = (3.47\pm 0.07\pm 0.15) nb, sigma(e+ e- to D+ D-) = (2.59\pm 0.11\pm 0.11) nb, and sigma(e+ e- to D Dbar) = (6.06\pm 0.13\pm 0.22) nb. We note that the Monte Carlo simulations used in calculating efficiencies in this analysis included final state radiation. However, the branching fractions used in the Particle Data Group averages do not include this effect. If we had not included final state radiation in our simulations, branching fractions would have been 0.5% to 2% lower.