Observation and Properties of the Orbitally Excited $B_{s2}^{*}$ Meson

We report the direct observation of the excited $L=1$ state $B_{s2}^{*}$ in fully reconstructed decays to $B^{+}{K}^{-}$. The mass of the $B_{s2}^{*}$ meson is measured to be $5839.6\pm 1.1(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.7(\mathrm{syst})\mathrm{MeV}/c^2$, and its production rate relative to the $B^{+}$ meson is measured to be $[1.15\pm 0.23(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.13(\mathrm{syst})]\%$.

Figure 1

Invariant mass difference $\Delta M=M(B^{+}{K}^{-})-M(B^{+})-M(K^{-})$ for exclusive $B$ decays. The line shows the fit described in the text, with signal and background contributions also plotted separately.

Figure 2

Invariant mass difference $\Delta M=M(B^{+}{K}^{-})-M(B^{+})-M(K^{-})$ for exclusive $B$ decays. The line shows the fit with a two-peak hypothesis, as described in the text. Shown separately are contributions from signal and background.