Measurement of the $B$ Meson Differential Cross Section, $dσ/dp_T$, in $p\bar{p}$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.8$ TeV

TL;DR

The first direct measurement of the B meson differential cross section is presented, in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.8$ TeV using a sample of $19.7$ pb$-1 accumulated by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF).

Abstract

This paper presents the first direct measurement of the $B$ meson differential cross section, $dσ/dp_T$, in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.8$ TeV using a sample of $19.3 \pm 0.7$ pb$^{-1}$ accumulated by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). The cross section is measured in the central rapidity region $|y| < 1$ for $p_T(B) > 6.0$ GeV/$c$ by fully reconstructing the $B$ meson decays $B^{+}\to J/ψK^{+}$ and $B^{0}\to J/ψK^{*0}(892)$, where $J/ψ\to μ^+μ^-$ and $K^{*0} \to K^+ π^-$. A comparison is made to the theoretical QCD prediction calculated at next-to-leading order.

Figures (2)

• Figure 1: $B^\pm$ and $B^0$ meson invariant mass distributions for the momentum ranges (a,e) 6-9 GeV/$c$, (b,f) 9-12 GeV/$c$, (c,g) 12-15 GeV/$c$, and (d,h) $>$15 GeV/$c$.
• Figure 2: Average $B$ meson differential cross section compared to the QCD prediction. The branching ratio uncertainty, which contributes 11.9$\%$ to the cross section uncertainty, is shown separately. The dashed curves indicate the uncertainty in the theoretical prediction. The inset plot shows (data-QCD)/QCD on a linear scale.