BaBar analyses
Searches for baryon-number and lepton-number violating B meson decays
I initiated and conducted the search for decays of a B meson to a baryon and lepton. The baryon is either a Lambda or Lambda_c and the lepton is either a muon or electron. The hypothesis is that bosons which violate both baryon- and lepton-number might couple weakly to 1st generation quarks and leptons, and so further suppress proton decay beyond the suppression that comes from the mass scale of the interaction. If this was so, then these processes might be observed in reactions involving b or c quarks. No signal was observed and we set the first upper limits on the branching fraction for these reactions.
Phys. Rev D. (Rapid Communications) article
Search for CP violation in the decays of B mesons to 3 pions
While at Stanford, I worked with a graduate student, Tomo Miyashita, on his thesis analysis: a Dalitz plot analysis of a B meson decaying to 3 pions. This decay procedes primarily through B --> rho pi. The 3 rho's overlap in the corners of the Dalitz plot and interfere with one another. As the B meson propagates, its amplitude oscillates between a neutral B and a neutral anti-B meson. CP violation will show up as a changing interference in the rho overlap bands as a function of time. This analysis is ongoing and is aiming for a 2012 publication.