Measurements of the Absolute Branching Fractions of B^\pm --> K^\pm X_{c\bar c}

TL;DR

This paper measures the absolute branching fractions of B^ meson decays to K^ and charmonium states, providing new limits and insights into the nature of X(3872) using data from the BaBar experiment.

Contribution

It reports the first or improved measurements of B^ to K^ plus various charmonium states, including an upper limit on B^ to K^ X(3872).

Findings

Upper limit BR(B^  K^ X(3872))<3.2^{-4} at 90% CL

Lower limit BR(X(3872)  J/+) > 4.2%

Several new or improved measurements of B^ decay modes.

Abstract

We study the two-body decays of B^\pm mesons to K^\pm and a charmonium state, X_{c\bar c}, in a sample of 210.5 fb^{-1} of data from the BaBar experiment. We perform measurements of absolute branching fractions BR(B^\pm --> K^\pm X_{c\bar c}) using a missing mass technique, and report several new or improved results. In particular, the upper limit BR(B^\pm --> K^\pm X(3872))<3.2 10^-4 at 90% CL and the inferred lower limit BR(X(3872) --> J/\psi\pi^+\pi^-)>4.2% will help in understanding the nature of the recently discovered X(3872).