Measurement of the Forward-Backward Asymmetry in the Production of B^± Mesons in p¯p Collisions at √s = 1.96  TeV

We present a measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in the production of B^± mesons, A_FB(B^±), using B^± → J/ψK^± decays in 10.4  fb⁻¹ of p¯p collisions at √s = 1.96  TeV collected by the D0 experiment during Run II of the Tevatron collider. A nonzero asymmetry would indicate a preference for a particular flavor, i.e., b quark or ¯b antiquark, to be produced in the direction of the proton beam. We extract A_FB(B^±) from a maximum likelihood fit to the difference between the numbers of forward- and backward-produced B^± mesons. We measure an asymmetry consistent with zero: A_FB(B^±) = [−0.24±0.41  (stat)±0.19  (syst)]%.
© 2015 American Physical Society