36 research outputs found
First Observation of the Doubly Charmed Baryon Xi_cc^+
We observe a signal for the doubly charmed baryon Xi_cc^+ in the charged
decay mode Xi_cc^+ --> Lambda_c^+ K- pi+ in data from SELEX, the charm
hadro-production experiment at Fermilab. We observe an excess of 15.9 events
over an expected background of 6.1 +/- 0.5 events, a statistical significance
of 6.3sigma. The observed mass of this state is (3519 +/- 1) MeV/c^2. The
Gaussian mass width of this state is 3MeV/c^2, consistent with resolution; its
lifetime is less than 33fsec at 90% confidence.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
First Measurement of pi e -> pi e gamma Pion Virtual Compton Scattering
Pion Virtual Compton Scattering (VCS) via the reaction pi e --> pi e gamma
was observed in the Fermilab E781 SELEX experiment. SELEX used a 600 GeV/c pi-
beam incident on target atomic electrons, detecting the incident pi- and the
final state pi-, electron and gamma. Theoretical predictions based on chiral
perturbation theory are incorporated into a Monte Carlo simulation of the
experiment and are compared to the data. The number of reconstructed events (9)
and their distribution with respect to the kinematic variables (for the
kinematic region studied) are in reasonable accord with the predictions. The
corresponding pi- VCS experimental cross section is sigma=38.8+-13 nb, in
agreement with the theoretical expectation sigma=34.7 nb.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables, 25 references, SELEX home page is
http://fn781a.fnal.gov/, revised July 21, 2002 in response to journal referee
Comment
Confirmation of the Double Charm Baryon Xi_cc+ via its Decay to p D+ K-
We observes a signal for the double charm baryon Xi_cc+ in the charged decay
mode Xi_cc+ -> p D+ K- to complement the previously reported decay Xi_cc+ ->
Lambda_c K- pi+ in data from SELEX, the charm hadro-production experiment
(E781) at Fermilab. In this new decay mode we observe an excess of 5.62 events
over an expected background estimated by event mixing to be 1.38+/-0.13 events.
The Poisson probability that a background fluctuation can produce the apparent
signal is less than 6.4E-4. The observed mass of this state is
(3518+/-3)MeV/c^2, consistent with the published result. Averaging the two
results gives a mass of (3518.7+/-1.7)MeV/c^2. The observation of this new weak
decay mode confirms the previous SELEX suggestion that this state is a double
charm baryon. The relative branching ratio Gamma(Xi_cc+ -> pD+K-)/Gamma(Xi_cc+
-> Lambda_c K- pi+) = 0.36+/-0.21.Comment: 11 pages, 6 included eps figures. v2 includes improved statistical
method to determine significance of observation. Submitted to PL
Precision measurements of the Lambda_c+ and D0 lifetimes
We report new precision measurements of the lifetimes of the Lambda_c+ and D0
from SELEX, the charm hadro-production experiment at Fermilab. Based upon 1630
Lambda_c+ and 10210 D0 decays we observe lifetimes of tau[Lambda_c+] = 198.1 +-
7.0 +- 5.6 fs and tau[D0] = 407.9 +- 6.0 +- 4.3 fsComment: 5 pages, RevTeX, 3 figures (postscript), Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Hadronic Production of Lambda_c from 600 GeV/c pion, sigma and proton beams
We present data from Fermilab experiment E781 (SELEX) on the hadroproduction
asymmetry for anti-Lambda_c compared to Lambda_c+ as a function of xF and pt2
distributions for Lambda_c+. These data were measured in the same apparatus
using incident pi-, sigma- beams at 600 GeV/c and proton beam at 540 GeV/c. The
asymmetry is studied as a function of xF. In the forward hemisphere with xF >=
0.2 both baryon beams exhibit very strong preference for producing charm
baryons rather than charm antibaryons, while the pion beam asymmetry is much
smaller. In this energy regime the results show that beam fragments play a
major role in the kinematics of Lambda_c formation, as suggested by the leading
quark picture.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures (postscript), RevTeX, submitted to Phy. Rev. Let
First Observation of the Cabibbo-suppressed Decays Xi_c+ -> Sigma+ pi- pi+ and Xi_c+ -> Sigma- pi+ pi+ and Measurement of their Branching Ratios
We report the first observation of two Cabibbo-suppressed decay modes, Xi_c+
-> Sigma+ pi- pi+ and Xi_c+ -> Sigma- pi+ pi+. We observe 59+/-14 over a
background of 87, and 22+/-8 over a background of 13 events, respectively, for
the signals. The data were accumulated using the SELEX spectrometer during the
1996-1997 fixed target run at Fermilab, chiefly from a 600GeV/c Sigma- beam.
The branching ratios of the decays relative to the Cabibbo--favored Xi_c+ ->
Xi- pi+ pi+ are measured to be B(Xi_c+ -> Sigma+ pi- pi+)/B(Xi_c+ -> Xi- pi+
pi+) = 0.48+/-0.20, and B(Xi_c+ -> Sigma- pi+ pi+)/B(Xi_c+ -> Xi- pi+ pi+) =
0.18+/-0.09, respectively. We also report branching ratios for the same decay
modes of the Lambda_c+ relative to Lambda_c+ -> p K- pi+.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, version 2 as accepted in PL
Total Cross Section Measurements with pi-, Sigma- and Protons on Nuclei and Nucleons around 600 GeV/c
Total cross sections for Sigma- and pi- on beryllium, carbon, polyethylene
and copper as well as total cross sections for protons on beryllium and carbon
have been measured in a broad momentum range around 600GeV/c. These
measurements were performed with a transmission technique adapted to the SELEX
hyperon-beam experiment at Fermilab. We report on results obtained for
hadron-nucleus cross sections and on results for sigma_tot(Sigma- N) and
sigma_tot(pi- N), which were deduced from nuclear cross sections.Comment: 42 pages, submitted to Nucl.Phys.