The Properties of Semileptonic Decays of Charmed D Mesons

Author: Coffman, Daniel Mark

Year: 1987

Degree: Dissertation (Ph.D.)

Advisor: Hitlin, David G.

Committee Members: Hitlin, David G.; Wise, Mark B.; Peck, Charles W.; Boehm, Felix H.

Option: Physics

DOI: 10.7907/4be7-sc20

Abstract

The MARK III collaboration has collected a large sample of D mesons produced at the Ψ(3770) resonance. The reconstruction of several thousand hadronic D decays makes possible for the first time the reconstruction of exclusive semileptonic D decays. Absolute branching ratios are measured for the nine decays D⁰ → K^- e⁺ ν_e, D⁰ → K^- π⁰ e⁺ ν_e, D⁰ → K̅⁰ π^- e⁺ ν_e, D⁺ → K̅⁰ e⁺ ν_e, D⁺ → K^- π⁺ e⁺ ν_e, D⁰ → π^- e⁺ ν_e, D⁰ → K^- μ⁺ ν_μ, D⁰ → K̅⁰ π^- μ⁺ ν_μ, and D⁺ → K̅⁰ μ⁺ ν_μ. The sums of the exclusive branching ratios are in good agreement with the inclusive semileptonic branching ratios measured by the MARK III. The rate of the Cabibbo-suppressed decays is consistent with the predicted rate. The contribution of the K^*(892) to the K-π invariant mass spectrum for decays of the type D → K π e⁺ ν_e is found to be about 55%. The vector form factor in the decays D⁰ → K^- e⁺ ν_e and D⁰ → K^- μ⁺ ν_μ is measured and found to be consistent with a simple pole form.

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