0000000000216706

AUTHOR

Meyer T

Measurements of mean lifetime and branching fractions of b hadrons decaying to J/ψ

From a data sample of 450 000 hadronic events recorded with the ALEPH detector at LEP, 92 +/- 10 events are observed containing a J/psi meson decaying to mu+mu- or e+e-. From these data the measured inclusive branching fraction for a b flavoured hadron to decay to a J/psi is BR(b --> J/psiX) = (1.21 +/- 0.13 (stat.) +/- 0.08 (syst.))%, and the average b hadron lifetime in the events tagged with a J/psi is tau(b) = 1.35(-0.17)+0.19 +/- 0.05 ps. Five events are observed consistent with the exclusive decay B+/- --> J/psiK+/- and from these events the exclusive branching fraction is measured to be BR(B+/- --> J/psiK+/-) = (0.22 +/- 0.10 +/- 0.02)%. Upper limits for other exclusive branching rat…

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Properties of Hadronic Z-decays and Test of QCD Generators

Distributions are presented of event shape variables, jet roduction rates and charged particle momenta obtained from 53 000 hadronic Z decays. They are compared to the predictions of the QCD + hadronization models JETSET, ARIADNE and HERWIG, and are used to optimize several model parameters. The JETSET and ARIADNE coherent parton shower (PS) models with running alpha(s) and string fragmentation yield the best description of the data. The HERWIG parton shower model with cluster fragmentation fits the data less well. The data are in better agreement with JETSET PS than with JETSET O(alpha(s)2) matrix elements (ME) even when the renormalization scale is optimized.

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A measurement of the b baryon lifetime

In 451 000 hadronic Z0 decays, recorded with the ALEPH detector at LEP, the yields of lambdal- and lambdal+ combinations are measured. Semileptonic decays of b baryons result in a signal of 122 +/- 18(stat.)+22/-23(syst.) lambdal- combinations. From a fit to the impact parameter distribution of the leptons in the lambdal- sample, the lifetime of b baryons is measured to be 1.12+0.32/-0.29(stat.) +/- 0.16(syst.) ps.

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Evidence for b baryons in Z decays

Abstract In 160 000 hadronic Z decays recorded with the ALEPH detector at LEP, the yields of Λl− and Λl+ combinations have been measured. The observed excess of Λl− over Λl+ of 53±13 is interpreted as evidence for b baryons and their semileptonic decay. Assuming that three body decay processes such as Λ b →Λ c + l − v dominate the semileptonic decay of b baryons, this ex cess corresponds to a product branching ratio BR ( b →Λ b )· BR (Λ b →Λ c + l − v )· BR (Λ c + →ΛX) = (0.95±0.22 ( stat. )±0.21( syst. ))% , where Λb and Λc+ denote the bottom and charm baryons respectively.

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MEASUREMENT OF THE PRODUCTION-RATES OF ETA AND ETA' IN HADRONIC-Z DECAYS

The decays eta --> gammagamma and eta' --> etapi+pi- have been observed in hadronic decays of the Z produced at LEP. The fragmentation functions of both the eta and eta' have been measured. The measured multiplicities for x > 0.1 are 0.298 +/- 0.023 +/- 0.021 and 0.068 +/- 0.018 +/- 0.016 for eta and eta' respectively. While the fragmentation function for the eta is fairly well described by the JETSET Monte Carlo, it is found that the production rate of the eta' is a factor of four less than the corresponding prediction.

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