B Physics at CDF

Due to the large b-bbar cross section at 1.96 TeV p-pbar collisions, the Tevatron is currently the most copious source of B hadrons. Recent detector upgrades for Run II have made these more accessible, allowing for a wide range of B and CP violation physics with B hadrons of all flavours. In this paper we present B-physics results, and, using the versatile hadronic Two Track Trigger, a search for Xi(1860), from up to 240/pb of data.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of 39th Rencontres de Moriond on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, La Thuile, Aosta Valley, Italy, 21-28 March 200

Reduction of Statistical Power Per Event Due to Upper Lifetime Cuts in Lifetime Measurements

A cut on the maximum lifetime in a lifetime fit not only reduces the number of events, but also, in some circumstances dramatically, decreases the statistical significance of each event. The upper impact parameter cut in the hadronic B trigger at CDF, which is due to technical limitations, has the same effect. In this note we describe and quantify the consequences of such a cut on lifetime measurements. We find that even moderate upper lifetime cuts, leaving event numbers nearly unchanged, can dramatically increase the statistical uncertainty of the fit result.Comment: Changes to latest revision: added DOI link, took the opportunity to correct some minor typos added one small clarificatio

Heavy Flavour Lifetimes and Lifetime Differences

We give an overview of heavy flavour lifetime measurements, focusing on recent results from the Tevatron and the B factories.Comment: Invited talk at the Workshop on the CKM Unitarity Triangle, IPPP Durham, April 2003 (eConf C0304052). 8 pages LaTeX, 12 figure

Charm (and Beauty) Production at the Tevatron

We present recent results on heavy flavour production at Tevatron Run II for typically ~1/fb of analysed proton-antiproton data at a c.m. energy of 1.96 TeV. This includes results on single and correlated open charm and bottom cross sections, charm pair production kinematics, J/psi, psi(2S) and chi cross sections and polarisation measurements in J/psi, psi(2S), Upsilon(1S), and Upsilon(2S).Comment: To be published in the proceedings of CHARM07, Ithaca, NY, August 2007, eConf C07080

An Exact Formula to Describe the Amplification Process in a Photomultiplier Tube

An analytical function is derived that exactly describes the amplification process due to a series of discrete, Poisson-like amplifications like those in a photo multiplier tube (PMT). A numerical recipe is provided that implements this function as a computer program. It is shown how the program can be used as the core-element of a faster, simplified routine to fit PMT spectra with high efficiency. The functionality of the method is demonstrated by fitting both, Monte Carlo generated and measured PMT spectra.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, with cut-and-paste FORTRAN implementatio

Model-independent determination of the strong phase difference between D0D^0 and Dˉ0→π+π−π+π−\bar{D}^0 \to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^- amplitudes

For the first time, the strong phase difference between $D^0$ and $\bar{D}^0\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ amplitudes is determined in bins of the decay phase space. The measurement uses $818\,\mathrm{pb}^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ collision data that is taken at the $\psi(3770)$ resonance and collected by the CLEO-c experiment. The measurement is important for the determination of the $C P$-violating phase $\gamma$ in $B^{\pm}\to D K^{\pm}$ (and similar) decays , where the $D$ meson (which represents a superposition of $D^0$ and $\bar{D}^0$) subsequently decays to $\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$. To obtain optimal sensitivity to $\gamma$, the phase space of the $D \to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ decay is divided into bins based on a recent amplitude model of the decay. Although an amplitude model is used to define the bins, the measurements obtained are model-independent. The $CP$-even fraction of the $D \to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ decay is determined to be $F_{+}^{4\pi} = 0.769 \pm 0.021 \pm 0.010$, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. Using simulated $B^{\pm}\to D K^{\pm}, D \to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ decays, it is estimated that by the end of the current LHC run, the LHCb experiment could determine $\gamma$ from this decay mode with an uncertainty of $(\pm10\pm7)^\circ$, where the first uncertainty is statistical based on estimated LHCb event yields, and the second is due to the uncertainties on the parameters determined in this paper