B∗ production in Z decays at LEP

Abstract The production of B ∗ mesons in Z decays has been measured at LEP with the L3 detector. A sample of Z → b b events was obtained by tagging muons in 1.6 million hadronic Z decays collected in 1991, 1992 and 1993. A signal with a peak value of E γ = 46.3 ± 1.9 (stat) MeV in the B rest frame energy spectrum was interpreted to come from the decay B ∗ → γB. The inclusive production ratio of B ∗ mesons relative to B mesons was determined from a fit to the spectrum to be N B ∗ (N B ∗ + N B ) = 0.76 ± 0.08 ± 0.06 , where the first error is statistical and the second is systematic.