D*± production by e+e- annihilation near 34.4 GeV cm energy

Abstract D ∗± production via e + e − →D ∗± X has been measured at an average CM energy of 34.4 GeV. The D ∗± energy spectrum is hard, with a maximum near χ = 0.6. The size of the D ∗ cross section, R D ∗ = σ( e + e − → D ∗ X ) σ μμ = 2.50 ± 0.64 ± 0.88 (assuming R D ∗0 = R D ∗+ ) indicates that a large fraction of charm quark production yields D ∗ mesons. The D ∗± angular distribution exhibits a forward—backward asymmetry, A = −0.28 ± 0.13. This is consistent with that expected in the standard theory for weak neutral currents and leads to | g A c | = 0.89 ± 0.44 for the axial vector coupling of the charm quark.