Observation of new resonances decaying to $D\pi$ and $D^*\pi$ in inclusive $e^ e^-$ collisions near $\sqrt{s}

The authors present a study of the D{sup +}{pi}{sup -}, D{sup 0}{pi}{sup +}, and D*{sup +}{pi}{sup -} systems in inclusive e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} c{bar c} interactions in a search for new excited D meson states. they use a dataset, consisting of {approx} 454 fb{sup -1}, collected at center-of-mass energies near 10.58 GeV by the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II asymmetric-energy collider. They observe, for the first time, candidates for the radial excitations of the D{sup 0}, D*{sup 0}, and D*{sup +}, as well as the L = 2 excited states of the D{sup 0} and D{sup +}, where L is the orbital angular momentum of the quarks.