Study of chi_{c1} and chi_{c2} meson production in B meson decays

Abstract

Using a sample of 9.7 million B meson pairs collected with the CLEO detector, we study inclusive B meson decays to the chi_c1 and chi_c2 charmonia states. We measure the branching fraction for the inclusive chi_c1 production in B decays to be Br(B->chi_c1 X)=(4.14+-0.31+-0.40)*10^-3, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second one is systematic. We obtain the branching fractions for direct chi_c1 and chi_c2 production in B decays by subtracting the contribution from the decay chain B->psi(2S)X with psi(2S)->chi_c1,2 gamma. We measure Br(B->chi_c1[direct] X)=(3.83+-0.31+-0.40)*10^-3. No statistically significant signal for chi_c2 production is observed in either case. We determine the 95% C.L. upper limits to be Br(B->chi_c2 X)<2.0*10^-3, Br(B->chi_c2[direct] X)<1.7*10^-3, and Br(B->chi_c2[direct] X)/Br(B->chi_c1[direct] X)<0.44. All quoted results are preliminary.