Observation of short-lived particles produced in high energy neutrino interactions

Abstract Examination of a sample of 89 high-energy, neutrino-induced dilepton events produced in the Fermilab 15 ft bubble chamber has resulted in the direct observation of the production and visible semi-leptonic decay of short-lived particles. One charged decay, two neutral decays, and one decay candidate of undetermined charge are found. Assuming these events and the remaining dilepton signal result from D meson decays, we obtain τ D + = 2.5 −1.5 +3.5 × 10 −13 s and τ D 0 = 3.5 −1.7 +3.5 × 10 −13 s, using a maximum likelihood analysis.