We study the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-\gamma$, with a hard photon radiated from the initial state. About 60,000 fully reconstructed events have been selected from 89 $fb^{-1}$ of BaBar data. The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective \epem center-of-mass energy, so that these data can be compared with the corresponding direct $e^+e^-$ measurements. From the $4\pi$-mass spectrum, the cross section for the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ is measured for center-of-mass energies from 0.6 to 4.5 $GeV/c^2$. The uncertainty in the cross section measurement is typically 5%. We also measure the cross sections for the final states $K^+ K^- \pi^+\pi^-$ and $K^+ K^- K^+ K^-$. We observe the $J/\psi$ in all three final states and measure the corresponding branching fractions. We search for X(3872) in $J/\psi (\to\mu^+\mu^-) \pi^+\pi^-$ and obtain an upper limit on the product of the $e^+e^-$ width of the X(3872) and the branching fraction for $X(3872) \to J/\psi\pi^+\pi^-$.
We present measurements of the total production rates and momentum distributions of the charmed baryon $\Lambda_c^+$ in $e^+e^- \to$ hadrons at a center-of-mass energy of 10.54 GeV and in $\Upsilon(4S)$ decays. In hadronic events at 10.54 GeV, charmed hadrons are almost exclusively leading particles in $e^+e^- \to c\bar{c}$ events, allowing direct studies of $c$-quark fragmentation. We measure a momentum distribution for $\Lambda_c^+$ baryons that differs significantly from those measured previously for charmed mesons. Comparing with a number of models, we find none that can describe the distribution completely. We measure an average scaled momentum of $\left< x_p \right> = 0.574\pm$0.009 and a total rate of $N_{\Lambda c}^{q\bar{q}} = 0.057\pm$0.002(exp.)$\pm$0.015(BF) $\Lambda_c^+$ per hadronic event, where the experimental error is much smaller than that due to the branching fraction into the reconstructed decay mode, $pK^-\pi^+$. In $\Upsilon (4S)$ decays we measure a total rate of $N_{\Lambda c}^{\Upsilon} = 0.091\pm$0.006(exp.)$\pm$0.024(BF) per $\Upsilon(4S)$ decay, and find a much softer momentum distribution than expected from B decays into a $\Lambda_c^+$ plus an antinucleon and one to three pions.
A precise measurement of the ratio R of the total cross section e+e−→hadrons to the pointlike cross section e+e−→μ+μ− at a center-of-mass energy of 29.0 GeV is presented. The data were taken with the upgraded Mark II detector at the SLAC storage ring PEP. The result is R=3.92±0.05±0.09. The luminosity has been determined with three independent luminosity monitors measuring Bhabha scattering at different angular intervals. Recent calculations of higher-order QED radiative corrections are used to estimate the systematic error due to missing higher-order radiative corrections in the Monte Carlo event generators.
We report a study of the processes e+e- -> eta gamma and e+e- -> etaprime gamma at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV, using a 232 fb^-1 data sample collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II collider at SLAC. We observe 20+6-5 eta gamma and 50+8-7 etaprime gamma events over small backgrounds, and measure the cross sections sigma(e+e- -> eta gamma) =4.5+1.2-1.1(stat)+-0.3(sys) fb and sigma(e+e- -> etaprime gamma)=5.4+-0.8(stat)+-0.3(sys) fb. The corresponding transition form factors at q^2 = 112 GeV^2 are q^2|F_eta(q^2)|=0.229+-0.030+-0.008 GeV, and q^2|F_etaprime(q^2)|=0.251+-0.019+-0.008 GeV, respectively.
We have studied the energy-energy correlation in e+e− annihilation into hadrons at √s =29 GeV using the Mark II detector at the SLAC storage ring PEP. We find to O(αs2) that αs=0.158±0.003±0.008 if hadronization is described by string fragmentation. Independent fragmentation schemes give αs=0.10–0.14, and give poor agreement with the data. A leading-log shower fragmentation model is found to describe the data well.
Data from the High Resolution Spectrometer at the SLAC storage ring PEP have been used to study the inclusive production of baryons and mesons. Time-of-flight measurements are used to identify the charged hadrons. Neutral hadrons are identified from effective-mass peaks associated with their decay into two charged particles. Cross sections and other inclusive production characteristics are presented for π±, K±, and K0 (K¯0) mesons, and for the baryons (antibaryons) p (p¯) and Λ (Λ¯). The ratio of the inclusive cross section to the point cross section for the K0 and K¯0 mesons is R(K0,K¯0)=6.15±0.13±0.25, and for Λ and Λ¯, R(Λ,Λ¯)=0.846±0.036±0.085. The neutral-hadron differential cross sections are compared with the predictions of the Lund string model.
This paper presents the charged-particle multiplicity distributions for e+e− annihilation at √s =29 GeV measured in the High Resolution Spectrometer. The data, which correspond to an integrated luminosity of 185 pb−1, were obtained at the SLAC e+e− storage ring PEP. The techniques used to correct the observed prong numbers are discussed. The multiplicity distribution of the charged particles has a mean value 〈n〉=12.87±0.03±0.30, a dispersion D2=3.67±0.02±0.18, and an f2 moment of 0.60±0.02±0.18. Results are also presented for a two-jet sample selected with low sphericity and aplanarity. The charged-particle distributions are almost Poissonian and narrower than have been reported by other e+e− experiments in this energy range. The mean multiplicity increases with the event sphericity, and for the sample of threefold-symmetric three-jet events, a value of 〈n〉=16.3±0.3±0.7 is found. No correlation is observed between the multiplicities in the two hemispheres when the events are divided into two jets by a plane perpendicular to the thrust axis. This result is in contrast with the situation in soft hadronic collisions, where a strong forward-backward correlation is measured. For the single jets, a mean multiplicity of 6.43±0.02±0.15 and a dispersion value of D2=2.55±0.02±0.13 are found. These values give further support to the idea of independent jet fragmentation. The multiplicity distributions are well fit by the negative-binomial distribution. The semi-inclusive rapidity distributions are presented. Comparisons are made to the measurements of charged-particle multiplicities in hadron-hadron and lepton-nucleon collisions.
A study of charm fragmentation into $D_s^{*+}$ and $D_s^+$ in $e^+e^-$ annihilations at $\sqrt{s}$=10.5 GeV is presented. This study using $4.72 \pm 0.05$ fb$^{-1}$ of CLEO II data reports measurements of the cross-sections $\sigma(D_s^{*+})$ and $\sigma(D_s^+)$ in momentum regions above $x=0.44$, where $x$ is the $D_s$ momentum divided by the maximum kinematically allowed $D_s$ momentum. The $D_s$ vector to vector plus pseudoscalar production ratio is measured to be $P_V(x(D_s^+)>0.44)=0.44\pm0.04$
In this paper, results are presented from a study of the hadronic final states in e+e− annihilation at 29 GeV. The data were obtained with the High Resolution Spectrometer (HRS) at the SLAC PEP e+e− colliding-beam facility. The results are based on 6342 selected events corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 pb−1. The distributions of the events in sphericity (S), thrust (T), and aplanarity (A) are given and compared to other e+e− data in the same energy range. We measure 〈S〉=0.130±0.003±0.010 and 〈1-T〉=0.100±0.002. The sphericity distribution is compared to sphericity measurements made for beam jets in hadronic collisions as well as jets studied in neutrino scattering. The data sample is further reduced to 4371 events with the two-jet selections, S≤0.25 and A≤0.1. The single-particle distributions in the longitudinal and transverse directions are given. For low values of the momentum fraction (z=2p/W), the invariant distribution shows a maximum at z∼0.06, consistent with a QCD expectation. The data at high Feynman x (xF) show distribution consistent with being dominated by a (1-xf)2 variation for the leading quark-meson transition. The rapidity distribution shows a shallow central minimum with a height (1/NevdNh/dY‖Y=0=2.3±0.02±0.07. The mean charged multiplicity is measured to be 〈nch〉=13.1±0.05±0.6. The mean transverse momentum relative to the thrust axis 〈pT〉 rises as a function of z to a value of 0.70±0.02 GeV/c for z≳0.3. The distributions are compared to those measured in other reactions.
We present a measurement of the cross section of the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+pi^-\psi(2S)$ from threshold up to 8 GeV center-of-mass energy using events containing initial-state radiation, produced at the PEP-II $e^+e^-$ storage rings. The study is based on 298 fb$^{-1}$ of data recorded with the BaBar detector. A structure is observed in the cross-section not far above threshold, near 4.32 GeV. We also investigate the compatibility of this structure with the Y(4260) previously reported by this experiment.