Measurement ofD meson production in 200 GeV π⁻-Be interactions

Abstract

We have measured the differential and total cross sections ofD meson production in 200 GeV π⁻-beryllium interactions, using a sample of 48 fully reconstructed and nearly background-freeD mesons in the decay channelsK ^∓π^±,K ^∓π^±π^± andK ^∓π^∓π^±π^±. A single electron trigger has been used to select events containing a pair of charmed particles. A vertex telescope of 6 silison microstrip detectors allowed the reconstruction of tracks of charged secondaries and the reconstruction of primary and decay vertices with high precision. The ratio of branching fractions for$\mathop {D^0 }\limits^{( - )} \to K^ \mp \pi ^ \pm$ to$\mathop {D^0 }\limits^{( - )} \to K^ \mp \pi ^ \mp \pi ^ \pm \pi ^ \pm$, and an upper limit for$D^0 - \bar D^0$ mixing are presented.