Study of orbitally excited $B$ mesons and evidence for a new $B\pi$ resonance

Abstract

Using the full CDF Run II data sample, we report evidence for a new resonance, which we refer to as $B(5970)$, found simultaneously in the $B^0\pi^+$ and $B^+\pi^-$ mass distributions with a significance of 4.4 standard deviations. We further report the first study of resonances consistent with orbitally excited $B^{+}$ mesons and an updated measurement of the properties of orbitally excited $B^0$ and $B_s^0$ mesons. We measure the masses and widths of all states, as well as the relative production rates of $B_1$, $B_2^*$, and $B(5970)$ states and the branching fraction of the $B_{s2}^{*0}$ state to either $B^{*+} K^-$ and $B^{+} K^-$. Furthermore, we measure the production rates of the orbitally excited $B^{0,+}$ states relative to the $B^{0,+}$ ground state. The masses of the new $B(5970)$ resonances are $5978\pm5(\textrm{stat})\pm12(\textrm{syst}) \textrm{ MeV/c}^{2}$ for the neutral state and $5961\pm5(\textrm{stat})\pm12(\textrm{syst}) \textrm{ MeV/c}^{2}$ for the charged state, assuming that the resonance decays into $B\pi$ final states. The properties of the orbitally excited and the new $B(5970)^{0,+}$ states are compatible with isospin symmetry.