Study of Charmless Hadronic B Meson Decays to Pseudoscalar-Vector Final States

We report results of searches for charmless hadronic B meson decays to pseudoscalar(pi^+-,K^+-,Pi^0 or Ks^0)-vector(Rho, K* or Omega) final states. Using 9.7 million BBbar pairs collected with the CLEO detector, we report first observation of B^- --> Pi^-Rho^0, B^0 --> Pi^+-Rho^-+ and B^- --> Pi^-Omega, which are expected to be dominated by hadronic b --> u transitions. The measured branching fractions are (10.4+3.3-3.4+-2.1)x10^-6, (27.6+8.4-7.4+-4.2)x10^-6 and (11.3+3.3-2.9+-1.4)x10^-6, respectively. Branching fraction upper limits are set for all the other decay modes investigated.Comment: 10 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

What a Plant Sounds Like: The Statistics of Vegetation Echoes as Received by Echolocating Bats

A critical step on the way to understanding a sensory system is the analysis of the input it receives. In this work we examine the statistics of natural complex echoes, focusing on vegetation echoes. Vegetation echoes constitute a major part of the sensory world of more than 800 species of echolocating bats and play an important role in several of their daily tasks. Our statistical analysis is based on a large collection of plant echoes acquired by a biomimetic sonar system. We explore the relation between the physical world (the structure of the plant) and the characteristics of its echo. Finally, we complete the story by analyzing the effect of the sensory processing of both the echolocation and the auditory systems on the echoes and interpret them in the light of information maximization. The echoes of all different plant species we examined share a surprisingly robust pattern that was also reproduced by a simple Poisson model of the spatial reflector arrangement. The fine differences observed between the echoes of different plant species can be explained by the spatial characteristics of the plants. The bat's emitted signal enhances the most informative spatial frequency range where the species-specific information is large. The auditory system filtering affects the echoes in a similar way, thus enhancing the most informative spatial frequency range even more. These findings suggest how the bat's sensory system could have evolved to deal with complex natural echoes

Measurement of the B0 and B+ meson masses from B0 -> psi(') K_S and B+ -> psi(') K+ decays

Using 9.6 million B meson pairs collected with the CLEO detector, we have fully reconstructed 135 B0 -> psi(') K_S and 526 B+ -> psi(') K+ candidates with very low background. We fitted the psi(')K invariant mass distributions of these B meson candidates and measured the masses of the neutral and charged B mesons to be M(B0)=5279.1+-0.7[stat]+-0.3[syst] MeV/c^2 and M(B+)=5279.1+-0.4[stat]+-0.4[syst] MeV/c^2. The precision is a significant improvement over previous measurements.Comment: 2 typographic errors corrected; 11 pages, 2 figures; also available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/CLEO.htm

Update of the Search for the Neutrinoless Decay τ→μγ\tau\to \mu\gamma

We present an update of the search for the lepton family number violating decay $\tau \to \mu\gamma$ using a complete CLEO II data sample of 12.6 million $\tau^+\tau^-$ pairs. No evidence of a signal has been found and the corresponding upper limit is \BR(\tau \to \mu\gamma) < 1.0 \times 10^{-6} at 90% CL, significantly smaller than previous limits. All quoted results are preliminary.Comment: 9 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Measurements of the Mass, total Width and Two-Photon Partila Width of the ηc\eta_{c} Meson

Using 13.4 $fb^{-1}$ of data collected with the CLEO detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, we have observed 300 events for the two-photon production of ground-state pseudo-scalar charmonium in the decay $\eta_c$ -> $K_S K^{\mp} \pi^{\pm}$. We have measured the $\eta_c$ mass to be (2980.4 +- 2.3 (stat) +- 0.6 (sys)) MeV and its full width as (27.0 +- 5.8 (stat) +- 1.4 (sys)) MeV. We have determined the two-photon partial width of the $\eta_c$ meson to be (7.6 +- 0.8 (stat) +- 0.4 (sys) +- 2.3 (br)) keV, with the last uncertainty associated with the decay branching fraction.Comment: 9 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Measurement of Charge Asymmetries in Charmless Hadronic in B Meson Decays

We search for CP-violating asymmetries (Acp) in the B meson decays to K+- pi-+, K+- pi0, Ks pi+-, K+- eta', and omega pi+-. Using 9.66 million Upsilon(4S) decays collected with the CLEO detector, the statistical precision on Acp is in the range of \pm 0.12 to \pm 0.25 depending on decay mode. While CP-violating asymmetries of up to \pm 0.5 are possible within the Standard Model, the measured asymmetries are consistent with zero in all five decay modes studied.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Observation of Radiative Leptonic Decay of the Tau Lepton

Using 4.68 fb^{-1} of e^+e^- annihilation data collected with the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR) we have studied tau radiative decays tau -> mu nu nu gamma and tau -> e nu nu gamma. For a 10 MeV minimum photon energy in the tau rest frame, the branching fraction of radiative tau decay to a muon or electron is measured to be (3.61+-0.16+-0.35)*10^{-3} or (1.75+-0.06+-0.17)*10^{-2}, respectively. The branching fractions are in agreement with the Standard Model theoretical predictions.Comment: 11 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Hadronic Structure in the Decay τ−→π−π0ντ\tau^{-}\to \pi^{-}\pi^{0}\nu_{\tau}

We report on a study of the invariant mass spectrum of the hadronic system in the decay tau- -> pi- pi0 nu_tau. This study was performed with data obtained with the CLEO II detector operating at the CESR e+ e- collider. We present fits to phenomenological models in which resonance parameters associated with the rho(770) and rho(1450) mesons are determined. The pi- pi0 spectral function inferred from the invariant mass spectrum is compared with data on e+ e- -> pi+ pi- as a test of the Conserved Vector Current theorem. We also discuss the implications of our data with regard to estimates of the hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment.Comment: 39 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Study of Exclusive Radiative B Meson Decays

We have investigated exclusive, radiative B meson decays to charmless mesons (\rho, \omega, \phi, K^*(892), K^*_2(1430)) in 9.7\times 10^6 BBbar decays accumulated with the CLEO detector. The B -> K^*(892)\gamma branching fractions are determined to be Br(B^0 -> K^{*0}(892)\gamma) = (4.55 +0.72-0.68 +-0.34)\times 10^-5 and Br(B^+ -> K^{*+}(892)\gamma) = (3.76 +0.89-0.83 +-0.28)\times 10^-5. We have searched for CP asymmetry in B -> K^*(892)\gamma decays and measure Acp = +0.08 +-0.13 +-0.03. We also report the first observation of the decay B -> K^*_2(1430)\gamma with a branching fraction of (1.66 +0.59-0.53 +-0.13)\times 10^-5 and determine $Br(B -> K^*_2(1430)\gamma)/Br(B -> K^*(892)\gamma) = 0.39 +0.15-0.13 consistent with only one of two available theoretical models. No significant evidence for the decays B -> \rho\gamma and B^0 -> \omega\gamma is found and we limit Br(B -> (\rho/\omega)\gamma)/Br(B -> K^{*}(892)\gamma) < 0.32 at 90% CL. We also find no evidence for the exotic decay B^0 -> \phi\gamma.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Letter

Study of exclusive two-body B0 meson decays to charmonium

We present a study of three B0 decay modes useful for time-dependent CP asymmetry measurements. From a sample of 9.7 million B meson pairs collected with the CLEO detector, we have reconstructed B0 -> J/psi K0S, B0 -> chi_c1 K0S, and B0 -> J/psi pi0 decays. The latter two decay modes have been observed for the first time. We describe a K0S -> pi0 pi0 detection technique and its application to the reconstruction of the decay B0 -> J/psi K0S. Combining the results obtained using K0S -> pi+ pi- and K0S -> pi0 pi0 decays, we determine Br(B0 -> J/psi K0) = (9.5 +- 0.8 +- 0.6)*10^-4, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second one is systematic. We also obtain Br(B0 -> chi_c1 K0)= (3.9 +1.9/-1.3 +- 0.4)*10^-4 and Br(B0 -> J/psi pi0) = (2.5 +1.1/-0.9 +- 0.2)*10^-5.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.