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

Abstract

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.

Changes to latest revision: added DOI link, took the opportunity to correct some minor typos added one small clarification

References in corpus (2)

• Measurement of the J/Psi Meson and b-Hadron Production Cross Sections in ppbar Collisions at sqrt s = 1960 GeV
• The CDF Silicon Vertex Trigger

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• Measurement of the $B^{-}$ lifetime using a simulation free approach for trigger bias correction
• Studies of B-Hadron Decays to Charmless Final States at LHCb