Search for Charged Higgs Bosons in Decays of Top Quarks in pp̅ Collisions at √s=1.96 TeV

We report on the first direct search for charged Higgs bosons in decays of top quarks in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV. The search uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.2 fb{sup -1} collected by the CDF II detector at Fermilab, and looks for a resonance in the invariant mass distribution of two jets in the lepton+jets sample of t{bar t} candidates. We observe no evidence of charged Higgs bosons in top quark decays. Hence, 95% upper limits on the top quark decay branching ratio are placed at {Beta}(t {yields} H{sup +}b) < 0.1 to 0.3 for charged Higgs boson masses of 60 to 150 GeV/c{sup 2}, assuming {Beta}(H{sup +} {yields} c{bar s}) = 1.0. The upper limits on {Beta}(t {yields} H{sup +}b) can also be used as model-independent limits on the decay branching ratio of top quarks to generic scalar charged bosons beyond the standard model.