Searching for $B_c$ mesons in the ATLAS experiment at LHC

Abstract

We discuss the feasibility of the observation of the signal from $B_c$ mesons in the ATLAS experiment of the LHC collider at a luminosity of $\approx 10^{33}$cm${}^{-2}$s${}^{-1}$. In particular we address the decay mode $B_c\to J/\psi \pi$ followed by the leptonic decay $J/\psi \to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$, which should permit an accurate measurement of the $B_c$ mass. We performed a Monte Carlo study of the signal and background concluding that a precision of $40$ MeV for the $B_c$ mass could be achieved after one year of running.

Latex,7 pages including 3 uuencoded Postscript figures appended at the end of the latex file