An Analysis of the Decay B→D∗XℓνˉℓB \rightarrow D^* X \ell \bar\nu_\ell with Predictions from Heavy Quark and Chiral Symmetry

This paper considers the implications of the heavy quark and chiral symmetries for the semi-leptonic decay $B \rightarrow D^* X \ell \bar \nu_\ell$. The general kinematic analysis for decays of the form {\sl pseudoscalar meson $\rightarrow$ vector meson $+$ pseudoscalar meson $+$ lepton $+$ anti-lepton} is presented. This formalism is applied to the above exclusive decay which allows the differential decay rate to be expressed in a form that is ideally suited for the experimental determination of the different form factors for the process through angular distribution measurements. Heavy quark and chiral symmetry predictions for the form factors are presented, and the differential decay rate is calculated in the kinematic region where chiral perturbation theory is valid.Comment: 15 pages, uses jytex.tex and tables.tex; 3 figures not included but available on reques

The A Dependence of Open Charm and Bottom Production

We study inclusive heavy quark and exclusive heavy quark pair production in pp, pA and AA interactions. Intrinsic transverse momentum is introduced in pp interactions. Nuclear effects, limited to $k_T$ broadening and nuclear shadowing, are introduced in pA and AA interactions. The nuclear dependence is studied over a range of energies, both in fixed target and collider setups.Comment: 69 pages, 42 .eps figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the Hard Probe Collaboratio

Spin Dependent Fragmentation Functions for Heavy Flavor Baryons and Single Heavy Hyperon Polarization

Spin dependent fragmentation functions for heavy flavor quarks to fragment into heavy baryons are calculated in a quark-diquark model. The production of intermediate spin 1/2 and 3/2 excited states is explicity included. $\Lambda_b$ , $\Lambda_c$ and $\Xi_c$ production rate and polarization at LEP energies are calculated and, where possible, compared with experiment. A different approach, also relying on a heavy quark-diquark model, is proposed for the small momentum transfer inclusive production of polarized heavy flavor hyperons. The predicted $\Lambda_c$ polarization is roughly in agreement with experiment.Comment: LaTeX2e 11 pages with 4 PostScript figures. To be published in Proceedings of the International Workshop ``Symmetries and spin'', Praha-SPIN-200

Radiative Leptonic Decays of Heavy Mesons

We compute the photon spectrum and the rate for the decays $B(D)\to l\nu_l\gamma$ These photonic modes constitute a potentially large background for the purely leptonic decays which are used to extract the heavy meson decay constants. While the rate for D\to l\n\g is small, the radiative decay in the $B$ meson case could be of comparable magnitude or even larger than B\to\m\n. This would affect the determination of $f_B$ if the $\tau$ channel cannot be identified. We obtain theoretical estimates for the photonic rates and disscuss their possible experimental implications.Comment: 12 pages, RevTex, 3 uuencoded figures include

Measurement of the Omega_c Lifetime

We present the measurement of the lifetime of the Omega_c we have performed using three independent data samples from two different decay modes. Using a Sigma- beam of 340 GeV/c we have obtained clean signals for the Omega_c decaying into Xi- K- pi+ pi+ and Omega- pi+ pi- pi+, avoiding topological cuts normally used in charm analysis. The short but measurable lifetime of the Omega_c is demonstrated by a clear enhancement of the signals at short but finite decay lengths. Using a continuous maximum likelihood method we determined the lifetime to be tau(Omega_c) = 55 +13-11(stat) +18-23(syst) fs. This makes the Omega_c the shortest living weakly decaying particle observed so far. The short value of the lifetime confirms the predicted pattern of the charmed baryon lifetimes and demonstrates that the strong interaction plays a vital role in the lifetimes of charmed hadrons.Comment: 15 pages, including 7 figures; gzipped, uuencoded postscrip

Differential cross sections, charge production asymmetry, and spin-density matrix elements for D*(2010) produced in 500 GeV/c pi^- nucleon interactions

We report differential cross sections for the production of D*(2010) produced in 500 GeV/c pi^- nucleon interactions from experiment E791 at Fermilab, as functions of Feynman-x (x_F) and transverse momentum squared (p_T^2). We also report the D* +/- charge asymmetry and spin-density matrix elements as functions of these variables. Investigation of the spin-density matrix elements shows no evidence of polarization. The average values of the spin alignment are \eta= 0.01 +- 0.02 and -0.01 +- 0.02 for leading and non-leading particles, respectively.Comment: LaTeX2e (elsart.cls). 13 pages, 6 figures (eps files). Submitted to Physics Letters

Measurement of the gluon PDF at small x with neutrino telescopes

We analyze the possibility that neutrino telescopes may provide an experimental determination of the slope lambda of the gluon distribution in the proton at momentum fractions x smaller than the accelerator reach. The method is based on a linear relation between lambda and the spectral index (slope) of the down-going atmospheric muon flux above 100 TeV, for which there is no background. Considering the uncertainties in the charm production cross section and in the cosmic ray composition, we estimate the error on the measurement of lambda through this method, excluding the experimental error of the telescopes, to be ~ +/- 0.2Comment: 16 pages with 16 figures - new version, comments added, same results and figure

Relating parton model and color dipole formulation of heavy quark hadroproduction

At high center of mass energies, hadroproduction of heavy quarks can be expressed in terms of the same color dipole cross section as low Bjorken-x deep inelastic scattering. We show analytically that at leading order, the dipole formulation is equivalent to the gluon-gluon fusion mechanism of the conventional parton model. In phenomenological application, we employ a parameterization of the dipole cross section which also includes higher order and saturation effects, thereby going beyond the parton model. Numerical calculations in the dipole approach agree well with experimental data on open charm production over a wide range of energy. Dipole approach and next to leading order parton model yield similar values for open charm production, but for open bottom production, the dipole approach tends to predict somewhat higher cross sections than the parton model.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Effective Functional Form of Regge Trajectories

We present theoretical arguments and strong phenomenological evidence that hadronic Regge trajectories are essentially nonlinear and can be well approximated, for phenomenological purposes, by a specific square-root form.Comment: 29 pages, LaTeX. Published versio