Reconstruction of B mesons

Abstract B mesons have been reconstructed in five decay channels of the type B →D ∗ ±nπ(n=1,2,3) using data accumulated by the ARGUS experiment at the e + e − storage ring DORIS II at DESY. In total, we find 40 neutral B mesons above a background of 15±6 events with a mass of (5278.2±1.0±3.0) MeV/ c 2 and 32 charged B mesons above a background of 17±6 events with a mass of (5275.8±1.3±3.0) MeV/ c 2 . The decays B 0 D ∗+ π − π 0 , B 0 D ∗+ π − π − π + , and B − → D ∗+ π − π − π 0 have been observed for the first time. We find substantially smaller branching ratios for the decay modes B 0 → D ∗+ π − and B − → D ∗+ π − π − than previously published by the CLEO collaboration.