A search for the decay modes B+/- to h+/- tau l

We present a search for the lepton flavor violating decay modes B+/- to h+/- tau l (h= K,pi; l= e,mu) using the BaBar data sample, which corresponds to 472 million BBbar pairs. The search uses events where one B meson is fully reconstructed in one of several hadronic final states. Using the momenta of the reconstructed B, h, and l candidates, we are able to fully determine the tau four-momentum. The resulting tau candidate mass is our main discriminant against combinatorial background. We see no evidence for B+/- to h+/- tau l decays and set a 90% confidence level upper limit on each branching fraction at the level of a few times 10^-5.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Observation and study of baryonic B decays: B -> D(*) p pbar, D(*) p pbar pi, and D(*) p pbar pi pi

We present a study of ten B-meson decays to a D(*), a proton-antiproton pair, and a system of up to two pions using BaBar's data set of 455x10^6 BBbar pairs. Four of the modes (B0bar -> D0 p anti-p, B0bar -> D*0 p anti-p, B0bar -> D+ p anti-p pi-, B0bar -> D*+ p anti-p pi-) are studied with improved statistics compared to previous measurements; six of the modes (B- -> D0 p anti-p pi-, B- -> D*0 p anti-p pi-, B0bar -> D0 p anti-p pi- pi+, B0bar -> D*0 p anti-p pi- pi+, B- -> D+ p anti-p pi- pi-, B- -> D*+ p anti-p pi- pi-) are first observations. The branching fractions for 3- and 5-body decays are suppressed compared to 4-body decays. Kinematic distributions for 3-body decays show non-overlapping threshold enhancements in m(p anti-p) and m(D(*)0 p) in the Dalitz plots. For 4-body decays, m(p pi-) mass projections show a narrow peak with mass and full width of (1497.4 +- 3.0 +- 0.9) MeV/c2, and (47 +- 12 +- 4) MeV/c2, respectively, where the first (second) errors are statistical (systematic). For 5-body decays, mass projections are similar to phase space expectations. All results are preliminary.Comment: 28 pages, 90 postscript figures, submitted to LP0

Study of Bbar --> Xu l nubar decays in BBbar events tagged by a fully reconstructed B-meson decay and determination of |V_{ub}|

We report measurements of partial branching fractions for inclusive charmless semileptonic B decays Bbar --> Xu l nubar, and the determination of the CKM matrix element |V_{ub}|. The analysis is based on a sample of 467 million Upsilon(4S) --> BBar decays recorded with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II e^+ e^- storage rings. We select events in which the decay of one of the B mesons is fully reconstructed and an electron or a muon signals the semileptonic decay of the other B meson. We measure partial branching fractions DeltaB in several restricted regions of phase space and determine the CKM element |V_{ub}| based on four different QCD predictions. For decays with a charged lepton momentum p_l^* > 1.0 GeV in the B meson rest frame, we obtain DeltaB = (1.80 \pm 0.13 (stat.) \pm 0.15 (sys.) \pm 0.02 (theo.)) \times 10^{-3} from a fit to the two-dimensional mX-q^2 distribution. Here, mX refers to the invariant mass of the final state hadron X and q^2 is the invariant mass squared of the charged lepton and neutrino. From this measurement we extract |V_{ub}| = (4.33\pm 0.24 (exp.) \pm 0.15 (theo.)) \times 10^{-3} as the arithmetic average of four results obtained from four different QCD predictions of the partial rate. We separately determine partial branching fractions for B^0 and B^- decays and derive a limit on the isospin breaking in Bbar --> Xu l nubar decays.Comment: 26 pages, 9 postscript figures, 9 tables, accepted for publication in PR

Search for the Z1(4050)+Z_1(4050)^+ and Z2(4250)+Z_2(4250)^+ states in Bˉ0→χc1K−π+\bar B^0 \to \chi_{c1} K^- \pi^+ and B+→χc1KS0π+B^+ \to \chi_{c1} K^0_S \pi^+

We search for the $Z_1(4050)^+$ and $Z_2(4250)^+$ states, reported by the Belle Collaboration, decaying to $\chi_{c1} \pi^+$ in the decays $\bar B^0 \to \chi_{c1} K^- \pi^+$ and $B^+ \to \chi_{c1} K^0_S \pi^+$ where \chi_{c1} \to \jpsi \gamma. The data were collected with the BaBar detector at the SLAC PEP-II asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider operating at center-of-mass energy 10.58 GeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 429 fb$^{-1}$. In this analysis, we model the background-subtracted, efficiency-corrected $\chi_{c1}\pi$ mass distribution using the $K \pi$ mass distribution and the corresponding normalized $K \pi$ Legendre polynomial moments, and then test the need for the inclusion of resonant structures in the description of the $\chi_{c1}\pi$ mass distribution. No evidence is found for the $Z_1(4050)^+$ and $Z_2(4250)^+$ resonances, and 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions are reported for the corresponding $B$-meson decay modes.Comment: 15 pages, 12 postscript figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Search for the highly suppressed decays B- -> K+π-π- and B- -> K-K-π+

We report a search for the decays B- -> K+pi(-)pi(-) and B- -> K-K-pi(+), which are highly suppressed in the standard model. Using a sample of (467 +/- 5) x 10(6) B (B) over bar pairs collected with the BABAR detector, we do not see any evidence of these decays and determine 90% confidence level upper limits of B(B- -> K+pi(-)pi(-)) and K-K-pi(+)) and < 1.6 x 10(-7) on the corresponding branching fractions, including systematic uncertainties

Using genetics in the conservation management of the American black bear (Ursus americanus) in Missouri

By the early 1900s, black bears were believed to be almost extinct in Missouri and Arkansas, presumably due to extensive logging and overharvest. To reestablish Arkansas populations, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission conducted a translocation program from 1958 to 1968, moving 254 bears from Minnesota and Manitoba, Canada, to the Ozark and Ouachita National Forests. This remains one of the most successful large mammal translocations ever conducted, and the Arkansas population grew rapidly into the thousands. However, bear sightings and nuisance reports suggested that 50 years after the translocations, populations in Missouri were small, and densities were low. We conducted a spatially explicit genetic capture-recapture study to estimate the size and density of the black bear population in south-centralMissouri.We genotyped hair samples collected over two years using 15 microsatellite loci and estimated the population size at 279 ± 54 (SE) and the density at 1.7 bears/km2. To infer the source of bears colonizing Missouri, we analyzed the resulting genotypes in the Bayesian clustering program STRUCTURE along with genotypes from Arkansas, Oklahoma, and source populations. The results revealed unique genetic clusters in the Ouachitas, the Ozarks, and the source populations and found that Missouri bears were divided between those that clustered with the Ozarks and a unique cluster. The presence of the unique cluster in Missouri supports the hypothesis that black bears in the Missouri Ozarks were not extirpated but were reduced to very low densities during European settlement and have subsequently become admixed with bears that trace their ancestry to the reintroduction. While some might suggest that the unique Missouri population should be designated as a separate management unit, we caution that this might not be beneficial to the preservation of the Missouri bear population as we have no evidence that it is ecologically or geographically distinct, it has low genetic diversity, and the genetic differentiation may not be related to adaptive differences

De Novo SNP Discovery in the Scandinavian Brown Bear (Ursus arctos)

Information about relatedness between individuals in wild populations is advantageous when studying evolutionary, behavioural and ecological processes. Genomic data can be used to determine relatedness between individuals either when no prior knowledge exists or to confirm suspected relatedness. Here we present a set of 96 SNPs suitable for inferring relatedness for brown bears (Ursus arctos) within Scandinavia. We sequenced reduced representation libraries from nine individuals throughout the geographic range. With consensus reads containing putative SNPs, we applied strict filtering criteria with the aim of finding only high-quality, highly-informative SNPs. We tested 150 putative SNPs of which 96% were validated on a panel of 68 individuals. Ninety-six of the validated SNPs with the highest minor allele frequency were selected. The final SNP panel includes four mitochondrial markers, two monomorphic Y-chromosome sex-determination markers, three X-chromosome SNPs and 87 autosomal SNPs. From our validation sample panel, we identified two previously known parent-offspring dyads with reasonable accuracy. This panel of SNPs is a promising tool for inferring relatedness in the brown bear population in Scandinavia