Measurement of CP Asymmetries and Branching Fractions in Charmless Two-Body B-Meson Decays to Pions and Kaons

We present improved measurements of CP-violation parameters in the decays $B^0 \to \pi^+ \pi^-$, $B^0 \to K^+ \pi^-$, and $B^0 \to \pi^0 \pi^0$, and of the branching fractions for $B^0 \to \pi^0 \pi^0$ and $B^0 \to K^0 \pi^0$. The results are obtained with the full data set collected at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy $B$ factory at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, corresponding to $467 \pm 5$ million $B\bar B$ pairs. We find the CP-violation parameter values and branching fractions $S_{\pi^+\pi^-} = -0.68 \pm 0.10 \pm 0.03, C_{\pi^+\pi^-} = -0.25 \pm 0.08 \pm 0.02, A_{K^-\pi^+} = -0.107 \pm 0.016 ^{+0.006}_{-0.004}, C_{\pi^0\pi^0} = -0.43 \pm 0.26 \pm 0.05, Br(B^0 \to \pi^0 \pi^0) = (1.83 \pm 0.21 \pm 0.13) \times 10^{-6}, Br(B^0 \to K^0 \pi^0) = (10.1 \pm 0.6 \pm 0.4) \times 10^{-6},$ where in each case, the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. We observe CP violation with a significance of 6.7 standard deviations for $B^0 \to\pi^+\pi^-$ and 6.1 standard deviations for $B^0 \to K^+ \pi^-$, including systematic uncertainties. Constraints on the Unitarity Triangle angle $\alpha$ are determined from the isospin relations among the $B \to \pi\pi$ rates and asymmetries. Considering only the solution preferred by the Standard Model, we find $\alpha$ to be in the range $[71^\circ,109^\circ]$ at the 68% confidence level.Comment: 18 pages, 11 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Search for lepton-number violating processes in B+ -> h- l+ l+ decays

We have searched for the lepton-number violating processes B+ -> h- l+ l+ with h- = K-/pi- and l+ = e+/mu+, using a sample of 471+/-3 million BBbar events collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We find no evidence for these decays and place 90% confidence level upper limits on their branching fractions Br(B+ -> pi- e+ e+) K- e+ e+) pi- mu+ mu+) K- mu+ mu+) < 6.7 x 10^{-8}.Comment: 8 pages, 4 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. R

Measurement of the Time-Dependent CP Asymmetry of Partially Reconstructed B0->D*+D*- Decays

We present a new measurement of the time-dependent CP asymmetry of B0->D*+D*- decays using (471+-5) million BBbar pairs collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II B Factory at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Using the technique of partial reconstruction, we measure the time-dependent CP asymmetry parameters S=-0.34+-0.12+-0.05$ and C=+0.15+-0.09+-0.04. Using the value for the CP-odd fraction R_perp=0.158+-0.028+-0.006, previously measured by BaBar with fully reconstructed B0->D*+D*- events, we extract the CP-even components S+=-0.49+-0.18+-0.07+-0.04 and C+=+0.15+-0.09+-0.04. In each case, the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic; the third uncertainty on S+ is the contribution from the uncertainty on R_perp. The measured value of the CP-even component S+ is consistent with the value of sin(2Beta) measured in b->(ccbar)s transitions, and with the Standard Model expectation of small penguin contributions.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Search for the Flavor-Changing Neutral-Current Decays D+→π+μ+μ−D^+\to \pi^+ \mu^+ \mu^- and D+→π+e+e−D^+\to \pi^+ e^+ e^-

We report the results of a search for the flavor-changing neutral-current decays $D^+\rightarrow \pi^+ \mu^+ \mu^-$ and $D^+\rightarrow \pi^+ e^+ e^-$ in data from Fermilab charm hadroproduction experiment E791. No signal above background is found, and we obtain upper limits on branching fractions, $B(D^+\rightarrow \pi^+ \mu^+ \mu^-) < 1.8 \times 10^{-5}$ and $B(D^+\rightarrow \pi^+ e^+ e^-) < 6.6 \times 10^{-5}$, at the 90\% confidence level.Comment: nine pages with figures; compressed, uuencoded postscrip

Dalitz Plot Analysis of the Decay D^+ --> K^- pi^+ pi^+ and Indication of a Low-Mass Scalar K pi Resonance

We study the Dalitz plot of the decay D^+ --> K^- pi^+ pi^+ with a sample of 15090 events from Fermilab experiment E791. Modeling the decay amplitude as the coherent sum of known K pi resonances and a uniform nonresonant term, we do not obtain an acceptable fit. If we allow the mass and width of the K^*_0(1430) to float, we obtain values consistent with those from PDG but the chi^2 per degree of freedom of the fit is still unsatisfactory. A good fit is found when we allow for the presence of an additional scalar resonance, with mass 797 +/- 19 +/- 43 MeV/c^2 and width 410 +/- 43 +/- 87 MeV/c^2. The mass and width of the K^*_0(1430) become 1459 +/- 7 +/- 5 MeV/c^2 and 175 +/- 12 +/- 12 MeV/c^2, respectively. Our results provide new information on the scalar sector in hadron spectroscopy.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Study of the Ds+→π−π+π+D^+_s \to \pi^- \pi^+ \pi^+ decay and measurement of f0f_0 masses and widths

From a sample of 848 $\pm$ 44 $D_s^+ \to \pi^- \pi^+ \pi^+$ decays, we find $\Gamma(D_s^+ \to \pi^- \pi^+ \pi^+) / \Gamma(D_s^+ \to \phi \pi^+) = 0.245 \pm 0.028^{+0.019}_{-0.012}$. Using a Dalitz plot analysis of this three body decay, we find significant contributions from the channels $\rho^0(770)\pi^+$, $\rho^0(1450)\pi^+$, $f_0(980)\pi^+$, $f_2(1270)\pi^+$, and $f_0(1370)\pi^+$. We present also the values obtained for masses and widths of the resonances $f_0(980)$ and $f_0(1370)$.Comment: 10 pages, 3 eps figure

Measurement of Branching Fractions and Rate Asymmetries in the Rare Decays B -> K(*) l+ l-

In a sample of 471 million BB events collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider we study the rare decays B -> K(*) l+ l-, where l+ l- is either e+e- or mu+mu-. We report results on partial branching fractions and isospin asymmetries in seven bins of di-lepton mass-squared. We further present CP and lepton-flavor asymmetries for di-lepton masses below and above the J/psi resonance. We find no evidence for CP or lepton-flavor violation. The partial branching fractions and isospin asymmetries are consistent with the Standard Model predictions and with results from other experiments.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Precise Measurement of the e+ e- --> pi+ pi- (gamma) Cross Section with the Initial-State Radiation Method at BABAR

A precise measurement of the cross section of the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-(\gamma)$ from threshold to an energy of 3GeV is obtained with the initial-state radiation (ISR) method using 232fb$^{-1}$ of data collected with the BaBar detector at $e^+e^-$ center-of-mass energies near 10.6GeV. The ISR luminosity is determined from a study of the leptonic process $e^+e^-\to\mu^+\mu^-(\gamma)\gamma_{\rm ISR}$, which is found to agree with the next-to-leading-order QED prediction to within 1.1%. The cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-(\gamma)$ is obtained with a systematic uncertainty of 0.5% in the dominant $\rho$ resonance region. The leading-order hadronic contribution to the muon magnetic anomaly calculated using the measured $\pi\pi$ cross section from threshold to 1.8GeV is $(514.1 \pm 2.2({\rm stat}) \pm 3.1({\rm syst}))\times 10^{-10}$.Comment: 58 pages, 56 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Direct measurement of the pion valence quark momentum distribution, the pion light-cone wave function squared

We present the first direct measurements of the pion valence quark momentum distribution which is related to the square of the pion light-cone wave function. The measurements were carried out using data on diffractive dissociation of 500 GeV/c $\pi^-$ into di-jets from a platinum target at Fermilab experiment E791. The results show that the $|q\bar {q}>$ light-cone asymptotic wave function, which was developed using perturbative QCD methods, describes the data well for $Q^2 \sim 10 ~{\rm (GeV/c)^2}$ or more. We also measured the transverse momentum distribution of the diffractive di-jets.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure