We report on measurements of differential cross sections d sigma/d p_t for prompt charm meson production in p anti-p collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96 TeV using 5.8 +/- 0.3 pb-1 of data from the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. The data are collected with a new trigger that is sensitive to the long lifetime of hadrons containing heavy flavor. The charm meson cross sections are measured in the central rapidity region |y| \leq 1 in four fully reconstructed decay modes: D0 --> K- pi+, D*+ -> D0 pi+, D+ --> K- pi+ pi+, D+_s--> phi pi+, and their charge conjugates. The measured cross sections are compared to theoretical calculations.
We present evidence for the diffractive processes nu_mu Fe -> mu^- D_s^+ (D_s^*+) Fe and nubar_mu Fe -> mu^+ D_s^- (D_s^*-) Fe using the Fermilab SSQT neutrino beam and the Lab E neutrino detector. We observe the neutrino trident reactions nu_mu Fe -> nu_mu mu^- mu^+ Fe and nubar_mu Fe -> nubar_mu mu^+ mu^- Fe at rates consistent with Standard Model expectations. We see no evidence for neutral-current production of J/psi via either diffractive or deep inelastic scattering mechanisms.
Using a silicon-microstrip detector array to identify secondary vertices occurring downstream of a short platinum target, we have searched for the decay D0→μ+μ−. Normalized relative to the J/ψ→μ+μ− signal observed in the same data sample, for a 3.25-mm minimum decay distance our branching-ratio sensitivity is (4.8±1.4)×10−6 per event, and after background subtraction we observe -4.1±4.8 events. Using the statistical approach advocated by the Particle Data Group, we obtain a limit B(D0→μ+μ−)<3.1×10−5 at 90% confidence, confirming with a different technique the limit previously obtained by Louis et al. The interpretation of the upper limit involves complex statistical issues; we present another approach which is more suitable for combining the results of different experiments.
The nuclear dependence for 800 GeV/c proton production of neutron D mesons has been measured near xF=0 in Experiment 789 at Fermilab. D mesons from beryllium and gold targets were detected with a pair spectrometer and a silicon vertex detector via their decay D→Kπ. No nuclear dependence is found, with a measured α=1.02±0.03±0.02. The measured differential cross section, dσ/dxF, for neutral-D-meson production at 〈xF〉=0.031 is 58±3±7 μb/nucleon. The integrated cross section obtained by extrapolation of the measured cross section to all xF is 17.7±0.9±3.4 μb/nucleon and is consistent with previous measurements.
Forum