A Measurement of Rb using a Vertex Mass Tag

Abstract

We report a new measurement of Rb = Gamma(Z0->b-bbar) / Gamma(Z0->hadrons) using a double tag technique, where the b hemisphere selection is based on the reconstructed mass of the B hadron decay vertex. The measurement was performed using a sample of 130k hadronic Z0 events, collected with the SLD at the SLC. The method utilizes the 3-D vertexing abilities of the CCD pixel vertex detector and the small stable SLC beams to obtain a high b-tagging efficiency and purity. We obtain Rb=0.2142+/-0.0034(stat.)+/-0.0015(syst.)+/-0.0002(R_c).