Charged charmed particle lifetime

Abstract We present the lifetime values obtained for D ± and Λ c + , photoproduced in nuclear emulsion in the WA58 experiment. In photohadronic interactions, pairs of charmed particles are produced. Out of 20 charged charmed particles used for lifetime evaluation, 17 have their charmed partner seen emulsion, being then essentially free from any background. The values of the lifetime are τ D ± = (3.91 −1.25 +2.35 ) × 10 −13 s, τ Λ c + = (2.22 −0.75 +1.34 ) × 10 −13 s.