Measurement of the Charged Multiplicities in b, c and Light Quark Events from Z0 Decays

Average charged multiplicities have been measured separately in $b$, $c$ and light quark ($u,d,s$) events from $Z^0$ decays measured in the SLD experiment. Impact parameters of charged tracks were used to select enriched samples of $b$ and light quark events, and reconstructed charmed mesons were used to select $c$ quark events. We measured the charged multiplicities: $\bar{n}_{uds} = 20.21 \pm 0.10 (\rm{stat.})\pm 0.22(\rm{syst.})$, $\bar{n}_{c} = 21.28 \pm 0.46(\rm{stat.}) ^{+0.41}_{-0.36}(\rm{syst.})$ $\bar{n}_{b} = 23.14 \pm 0.10(\rm{stat.}) ^{+0.38}_{-0.37}(\rm{syst.})$, from which we derived the differences between the total average charged multiplicities of $c$ or $b$ quark events and light quark events: $\Delta \bar{n}_c = 1.07 \pm 0.47(\rm{stat.})^{+0.36}_{-0.30}(\rm{syst.})$ and $\Delta \bar{n}_b = 2.93 \pm 0.14(\rm{stat.})^{+0.30}_{-0.29}(\rm{syst.})$. We compared these measurements with those at lower center-of-mass energies and with perturbative QCD predictions. These combined results are in agreement with the QCD expectations and disfavor the hypothesis of flavor-independent fragmentation.Comment: 19 pages LaTex, 4 EPS figures, to appear in Physics Letters

Measurement of the B0-anti-B0-Oscillation Frequency with Inclusive Dilepton Events

The $B^0$-$\bar B^0$ oscillation frequency has been measured with a sample of 23 million \B\bar B pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we select events in which both B mesons decay semileptonically and use the charge of the leptons to identify the flavor of each B meson. A simultaneous fit to the decay time difference distributions for opposite- and same-sign dilepton events gives $\Delta m_d = 0.493 \pm 0.012{(stat)}\pm 0.009{(syst)}$ ps$^{-1}$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter

First measurement of the double inclusive B / anti-B hadron energy distribution in e+ e- annihilations, and of angle dependent moments of the B and anti-B energies

We have made the first measurement of the double-inclusive B/Bbar energy distribution in e+e- annihilations, using a sample of 400,000 hadronic Z0 decay events recorded in the SLD experiment at SLAC between 1996 and 1998. The small and stable SLC beam spot and the CCD-based vertex detector were used to reconstruct B/Bbar decay vertices with high efficiency and purity, and to provide measurements of the kinematic quantities used to calculate the B energies in this novel technique. We measured the B/Bbar energies with good efficiency and resolution over the full kinematic range. We measured moments of the scaled energies of the B and Bbar hadrons vs. the opening angle between them. By comparing these results with perturbative QCD predictions we tested the ansatz of factorisation in heavy-quark production. A recent next-to-leading order calculation reproduces the data.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures; submitted to Physics Letters

Factorial and cumulant moments in e+ e- ---> hadrons at the Z0 resonance

We present the first experimental study of the ratio of cumulant to factorial moments of the charged-particle multiplicity distribution in high-energy particle interactions, using hadronic Z$^0$ decays collected by the SLD experiment at SLAC. We find that this ratio, as a function of the moment-rank $q$, decreases sharply to a negative minimum at $q=5$, which is followed by quasi-oscillations. These features are insensitive to experimental systematic effects and are in qualitative agreement with expectations from next-to-next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD.Comment: 13 pages, latex file, uuencoded eps figure

The first year of the BABAR experiment at PEP-II

The BABAR detector, situated at the SLAC PEP-II asymmetric e^+e^- collider, has been recording data at energies on and around the Upsilon(4S) resonance since May 1999. In this paper, we briefly describe the PEP-II B Factory and the BABAR detector. The performance presently achieved by the experiment in the areas of tracking, vertexing, calorimetry and particle identification is reviewed. Analysis concepts that are used in the various papers submitted to this conference are also discussed

Measurement of the time dependence of B0−Bˉ0B^{0}-\bar B^{0} oscillations using inclusive dilepton events

A preliminary study of time dependence of B^0-anti-B^0 oscillations using dilepton events is presented. The flavor of the B meson is determined by the charge sign of the lepton. To separate signal leptons from cascade and fake leptons we have used a method which combines several discriminating variables in a neural network. The time evolution of the oscillations is studied by reconstructing the time difference between the decays of the B mesons produced by the Y(4S) decay. With an integrated luminosity of 7.7 fb-1 collected on resonance by BABAR at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory, we measure the difference in mass of the neutral B eigenstates, Delta_mB0 to be (0.507+/-0.015+/-0.022) x 10^{12} hbar-s^{-1}

Measurements of charmless three-body and quasi-two-body B decays

We present preliminary results of a search for several exclusive charmless hadronic B decays from electron-positron annihilation data collected by the BABAR detector near the Y(4S) resonance. These include three-body decay modes with final states h^{+/-}h^{-/+}h^{+/-} and h^{+/-}h^{-/+}pi^0, and quasi-two-body decay modes with final states X^0 h and X^0 K0S, where h = pi or K and X^0 = eta^' or omega. We find B(B^0 --> rho^(-/+)pi^(+/-)) = (49+/-13^{+6}_{-5}) x 10^{-6} and B(B^+ --> eta^' K^+) = (62+/-18+/-8) x 10^{-6} and present upper limits for eight other decays

Measurement of B0−Bˉ0B^0-\bar B^0 flavor oscillations in hadronic B0B^0 Decays

We have studied the B^+/- --> J/psi pi^+/- and B^+/- --> J/psi K^+/- decays using a 20.7 fb-1 data set collected with the BABAR detector. We observe a signal of 51+/-10 B^+/- --> J/psi pi^+/- events and determine the ratio BF(B^+/- --> J/psi pi^+/-)/BF(B^+/- --> J/psi K^+/-) to be [3.91 +/- 0.78 (stat.) +/- 0.19 (syst.)]%. The CP-violating charge asymmetries for the B^+/- --> J/psi pi^+/- and B^+/- --> J/psi K^+/- decays are determined to be A_pi = 0.01 +/- 0.22 (stat.) +/- 0.01 (syst.) and A_K = 0.003 +/- 0.030 (stat.) +/- 0.004 (syst.)