On the semileptonic decay of charmed hadrons

The semileptonic and leptonic decay modes of charmed hadrons produced in e+e− collisions above 4 GeV in the cm have been investigated by selecting events with a single electron plus at least two charged tracks. The electron momentum spectrum peaks near 0.5 GeV/c with few events above 0.7 GeV/c. The spectrum excludes large rates for the decays D → e v e and D → e v e π , but is compatible with D → e v e K ∗ (892) , D → e v e K or a mixture of both. The semileptonic branching ratio is obtained both by comparing the inclusive electron cross section with the total cross section attributable to charm, and by studying the fraction of events containing a second electron. The semileptonic charm branching ratios obtained are 0.11 ± 0.03 and 0.16 ± 0.06 respectively. A single event with three electrons and hadrons is found, consistent with the estimated background. The 90% confidence upper limit for σ(e+e− → 3e + hadrons) is 0.1 nb.