Measurement of the lifetime of the $B_c^pm$ meson in the semileptonic decay channel

Abstract

Using approximately 1.3 fb-1 of data collected by the D0 detector between 2002 and 2006, we measure the lifetime of the B_c meson in the B_c -> J/psi mu nu X final state. A simultaneous unbinned likelihood fit to the J/psi_s16mu invariant mass and lifetime distributions yields a signal of 881 _s16/- 80 (stat) candidates and a lifetime measurement of tau(B_c) = 0.448 _s160.038 -0.036 (stat) _s16/- 0.032 (syst) ps.