Charm hadron properties in 400 GeV/cpp interactions

A study of the properties of charm particles produced in 400 GeV/cpp interactions is reported. The experiment was performed using the high resolution hydrogen bubble chamber LEBC in association with the European Hybrid Spectrometer at the CERN SPS. Details of the experimental set-up and operational procedures are given and the methods to extract samples of charm decays are discussed. Results are presented on the intrinsic properties of charm particles (masses, lifetimes, decay modes and branching ratios), adding, whenever appropriate, the relevant information obtained in a similar study made with 360 GeV/cπ−p interactions. The hadroproduction properties of charm states (total and differential cross sections, correlations) are presented and discussed in the context of current QCD inspired phenomenology.