A liquid helium target system for a measurement of parity violation in neutron spin rotation

A liquid helium target system was designed and built to perform a precision measurement of the parity-violating neutron spin rotation in helium due to the nucleon-nucleon weak interaction. The measurement employed a beam of low energy neutrons that passed through a crossed neutron polarizer--analyzer pair with the liquid helium target system located between them. Changes between the target states generated differences in the beam transmission through the polarizer--analyzer pair. The amount of parity-violating spin rotation was determined from the measured beam transmission asymmetries. The expected parity-violating spin rotation of order $10^{-6}$ rad placed severe constraints on the target design. In particular, isolation of the parity-odd component of the spin rotation from a much larger background rotation caused by magnetic fields required that a nonmagnetic cryostat and target system be supported inside the magnetic shielding, while allowing nonmagnetic motion of liquid helium between separated target chambers. This paper provides a detailed description of the design, function, and performance of the liquid helium target system.Comment: V2: 29 pages, 14 figues, submitted to Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B. Revised to address reviewer comment

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

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

Exclusive B decays to charmonium final states

We report on exclusive decays of B mesons into final states containing charmonium using data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II storage rings. The charmonium states considered here are J/psi, psi(2S), and chi_C1. Branching fractions for several exclusive final states, a measurement of the decay amplitudes for the B0 --> J/psi K* decay, and measurements of the B0 and B+ masses are presented. All of the results we present here are preliminary

Measurement of the branching fractions for B0→D∗−π+B^{0}\to D^{*-}\pi^{+} and B0→D∗−ρ+B^{0} \to D^{*-}\rho^{+}

Using 5.2 fb-1 of e^+e^- annihilation data recorded with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II storage ring while operating on the Y(4S) resonance, a sample of fully reconstructed B^0 decays in the hadronic modes B^0 -> D^{*-}pi^+ and B^0 -> D^{*-}rho^+ have been reconstructed. In this paper, a study of these events is reported, including preliminary measurements of the absolute branching fractions for these modes, which are found to be B(B^0 -> D^{*-}pi^+) = (2.9+/-0.3+/-0.3) x 10^{-3} and B(B^0 -> D^{*-}rho^+) = (11.2+/-1.1+/-2.5) x 10^{-3}

Study of inclusive DS(∗)+/−D_S^{(*)+/-} production in B decays and measurement of B0→D∗−DS(∗)+B^0 \to D^{*-}D_S^{(*)+} decays using a partial reconstruction technique

Electron-positron annihilation data collected by the BABAR detector near the Y(4S) resonance are used to study the inclusive decay of B mesons to D_S^(+/-) and D_S^(*+/-) mesons, where the D_S^(+/-) is reconstructed using the decay D_S^(+/-) --> phi pi^(+/-). The production fraction of inclusive D_S^((*)+/-) and the corresponding momentum spectra have been determined. The exclusive decays B^0 --> D^(*-)D_S^((*)+) are observed with a partial reconstruction technique which uses the soft pion from the D^(*+/-) decay in association with the reconstructed D_S^((*)+/-). The beam energy constraint is used to determine the missing mass recoiling against the D_S^(+/-) system, showing a clear signal for this process. From the observed rates, preliminary results for the corresponding branching fractions have been obtained

Measurement of branching fractions for two-body charmless B decays to charged pions and kaons at BABAR

We present preliminary results of a search for charmless two-body B decays to charged pions and kaons using data collected by the BABAR detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's PEP-II storage ring. In a sample of 8.8 million produced B-anti-B pairs we measure the branching fractions B(B^0 --> pi^+pi^-) = (9.3^{+2.6}_{-2.3}^{+1.2}_{-1.4}) x 10^{-6} and B(B^0 --> K^+\pi^-) = (12.5^{+3.0}_{-2.6}^{+1.3}_{-1.7}) x 10^{-6}, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. For the decay B^0 --> K^+K^- we find no significant signal and set an upper limit of B(B^0 --> K^+K^-) 6.6 x 10^{-6} at the 90% confidence level

A measurement of the branching fraction of the exclusive decay B0→K∗0γB^{0} \to K^{*0}\gamma

The b --> s gamma transition proceeds by a loop ``penguin'' diagram. It may be used to measure precisely the couplings of the top quark and to search for the effects of any new particles appearing in the loop. We present a preliminary measurement of the branching fraction of the exclusive decay, B^0 --> K^{*0}gamma. We use 8.6 x 10^6 B-anti-B decays to measure B(B^0 --> K^{*0}gamma) = (5.4+/-0.8+/-0.5) x 10^{-5}