Production rate and decay lifetime measurements of B mesons at LEP using D and ϕ mesons.

The study of the properties of inclusive production of D mesons and of events in which a ϕ and a muon are present in the same jet provides two independent measurements of the probability, f, for a heavy quark to hadronize into a strange B or D meson. The data sample analysed corresponds to 243,000 hadronic Z decays. The combined value of these measurements is f=0.19±0.06±0.08. From the flight distance distributions of D and of (ϕ-lepton) secondary vertices, with the lepton emitted at high transverse momentum relative to the jet axis, two values are obtained for the B meson lifetime. Combining these measurements with a previous result based on the study of D-μ events, the B meson lifetime is measured to be: 0.96±0.37 ps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]