Production and Decay of Charmed Mesons in the Upsilon Energy Region

Abstract

We study the properties of charmed, nonstrange, $\mathrm{D}$ mesons produced in continuum ${\mathrm{e}}^{+}{\mathrm{e}}^{-}$ annihilations. The ${\mathrm{e}}^{+}{\mathrm{e}}^{-}$ collisions were generated in the energy region of the $\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(3S)$ and $\mathrm{{\rm Y}}(4S)$ resonances by the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, and were analyzed by the CLEO detector. We make extensive study of the decay topology ${\mathrm{D}}^0,{\mathrm{D}}^{+}\to {\overline{\mathrm{K}}}^{{}_{{}_0}}\mathrm{X}$, where the ${\overline{\mathrm{K}}}^{{}_{{}_0}}$ is observed in the final state ${\mathrm{K}}_{\mathrm{S}}^0\to {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$. The decay ${\mathrm{D}}^{+}\to {\mathrm{K}}^{-}{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ is also considered. We analyze the hadronization process through which charmed quarks become charmed hadrons. We measure the probability that a charmed meson will be produced in a state of non zero angular momentum. A comparison of the ${\mathrm{D}}^0$ and ${\mathrm{D}}^{+}$ fragmentation distributions is made to different fragmentation models, and to other charmed hadrons. A measurement of the relative production of several ${\mathrm{D}}^{+}$ decay modes is made, and the total ${\mathrm{D}}^0$ and ${\mathrm{D}}^{+}$ cross sections are estimated. Techniques are presented for the analysis of satellite mass peaks and ${\mathrm{D}}^{+}\iff {\mathrm{D}}_{\mathrm{s}}^{+}$ reflections. We search for nonspectator effects in the weak decays of charmed mesons, and for evidence of hadronic final state interactions in ${\mathrm{D}}^0$ decay.

arXiv commentCornell University Dissertation