Measurement of the $B_c^{-}$ meson lifetime in the decay $B_{c}^{-} \rightarrow J/\psi~\pi^{-}$

Abstract

The lifetime of the $B_c^{-}$ meson is measured using 272 exclusive $B_{c}^{-} \to J/\psi (\to \mu^+\mu^-) \pi^-$ decays reconstructed in data from proton-antiproton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.7 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. The lifetime of the $B_c^{-}$ meson is measured to be $\tau$($B_c^{-}$) = 0.452 $\pm$ 0.048(stat) $\pm$ 0.027(syst) ps. This is the first measurement of the $B_c^{-}$ meson lifetime in a fully-reconstructed hadronic channel, and it agrees with previous results and has comparable precision.