Resonant substructure in K [pi] [pi] [pi] decays of D mesons

Citation

DeJongh, Don Frederic (1990) Resonant substructure in K [pi] [pi] [pi] decays of D mesons. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechETD:etd-06062007-122309

Abstract

We determine the resonant substructure of D -> [...] decays using a five-dimensional maximum likelihood technique to extract the relative fractions and phases of the amplitudes contributing to the [...], [...], and [...] final states. We find that two-body decay modes account for about 75% of these decays. We obtain branching ratios for [...], [...], [...], [...], and [...] decay modes, as well as several three and four-body decay modes. In the case of [...] and [...], we obtain the branching ratios for all three possible isospin combinations, enabling us to extract the isospin 1/2 and 3/2 amplitudes. This allows us to eliminate the ambiguity due to phase shifts between the isospin amplitudes when comparing our results with theoretical models. We find that the isospin 3/2 amplitudes are suppressed relative to the isospin 1/2 amplitudes, confirming that an understanding of the lifetime difference of the D0 and D+ depends on an understanding of two-body hadronic decays.

For the [...] decay modes, we obtain detailed information on the polarization of the [...] and [...]. This enables us to obtain information on form-factors for [...] and [...] transitions, within the context of the factorization hypothesis. Comparison of our results on [...] decays with recent results on semileptonic decays allows us to test the factorization hypothesis.

Thesis Files