Study of B decays to charmonium states: B -> eta K-c and B -> chi K-c0

Abstract

In a sample of 9.66 x 10(6) B(B) over bar pairs collected with the CLEO detector we make the first observation of B decays to an eta (c) and a kaon. We measure branching fractions B(B+ --> eta K-c(+)) = (0.69(-0.21)(+0.26) +/- 0.08 +/- 0.20) x 10(-3) and B(B degrees --> eta K-c degrees) = (1.09(-0.42)(+0.55) +/- 0.12 +/- 0.31) x 10(-3), where the first error is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is from the eta (c) branching fraction uncertainty. From these we extract the eta (c) decay constant in the factorization approximation, f(eta), = 335 +/- 75 MeV. We also search for B decays to a chi (c0) and a kaon. No evidence for a signal is found and we set 90% C.L. upper limits: B(B+ --> chi K-c0(+)) < 4.8 x 10(-4) and B(B<degrees> --> chi K-c0 degrees) < 5.0 x 10(-4).