A High-Pt Trigger for the HERA-B Experiment

Abstract

We have constructed a high-$p_T$ trigger for the HERA-B experiment at DESY. The HERA-B experiment produces B mesons by inserting wire targets into the halo of the proton beam circulating in HERA. The high-\pt trigger records events that contain tracks that have high transverse momentum with respect to the beam. Such a trigger is efficient for recording $B \to \pi^+\pi^-$, $B \to K^-\pi^+$, $B_s \to K^+ K^-$, $B_s \to D_s^-\pi^+$, and other topical hadronic B decays. These decays provide sensitivity to the internal angles $\alpha$ and $\gamma$ of the CKM unitarity triangle, and they also can be used to measure or constrain the $B_s$-$\bar B_s$ mixing parameter $x_s$.