First observation of $D^0-\bar D^0$ oscillations in $D^0\to K^+π^-π^+π^-$ decays and measurement of the associated coherence parameters
hep-ex
/ Authors
LHCb collaboration, R. Aaij, C. Abellán Beteta, B. Adeva, M. Adinolfi, A. Affolder, Z. Ajaltouni, S. Akar, J. Albrecht, F. Alessio
and 727 more authors
M. Alexander, S. Ali, G. Alkhazov, P. Alvarez Cartelle, A. A. Alves, S. Amato, S. Amerio, Y. Amhis, L. An, L. Anderlini, G. Andreassi, M. Andreotti, J. E. Andrews, R. B. Appleby, O. Aquines Gutierrez, F. Archilli, P. d'Argent, A. Artamonov, M. Artuso, E. Aslanides, G. Auriemma, M. Baalouch, S. Bachmann, J. J. Back
/ Abstract
Charm meson oscillations are observed in a time-dependent analysis of the ratio of $D^0\to K^+π^-π^+π^-$ to $D^0\to K^-π^+π^-π^+$ decay rates, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $3.0\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$ recorded by the LHCb experiment. The measurements presented are sensitive to the phase-space averaged ratio of doubly Cabibbo-suppressed to Cabibbo-favoured amplitudes $r_{D}^{K3π}$ and the product of the coherence factor $R_{D}^{K3π}$ and a charm mixing parameter $y^{'}_{K3π}$. The constraints measured are $r_{D}^{K3π}=(5.67 \pm 0.12)\times10^{-2}$, which is the most precise determination to date, and $R_{D}^{K3π} \cdot y^{'}_{K3π} = (0.3 \pm 1.8)\times 10^{-3}$, which provides useful input for determinations of the CP-violating phase $γ$ in $B^\pm \to D K^\pm, D \to K^\mpπ^\pmπ^\mpπ^\pm$ decays. The analysis also gives the most precise measurement of the $D^0\to K^+π^-π^+π^-$ branching fraction, and the first observation of $D^0-\bar D^0$ oscillations in this decay mode, with a significance of 8.2 standard deviations.