ANALYSIS OF CLEO CHI_C DECAYS

Mentors: Matt Shepherd and Ryan Mitchell

The chi_c states are mesons composed of a charm and anti-charm quark.   
Because of the particular configuration of the quarks within the chi_c 
states, the charm and anti-charm quarks often annihilate into a number 
of gluons, making these decays an ideal place to search for and study 
the properties of lighter states composed primarily of gluons (glueballs).  
The fact that there are three chi_c states in different configurations 
of angular momentum (total angular momentum of 0, 1, and 2) combined  
with the fact that there are literally hundreds of  different ways each 
chi_c state can decay, makes this a particularly fertile ground for 
studying glueball dynamics, among other things.

The CLEO experiment has recently collected a large, high-quality sample of 
chi_c decays, providing an unprecedented opportunity to study the dynamics 
of these decays.  An REU student will have the chance to assist in this 
exciting and timely effort by looking at a few specific decays in detail.  
This will involve using the CLEO analysis framework, modeling the decays 
in a detector simulation, and learning state of the art fitting techniques 
that are used to model the physics of the decays.