Measurement of branching fractions of B decays to K-1(1270)pi and K-1(1400)pi and determination of the CKM angle alpha from B-0 -> a(1)(1260)(+/-)pi(-/+)

Abstract

We report measurements of the branching fractions of neutral and charged B meson decays to final states containing a K-1(1270) or K-1(1400) meson and a charged pion. The data, collected with the BABAR detector at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, correspond to 454 x 10(6) B (B) over bar pairs produced in e(+)e(-) annihilation. We measure the branching fractions B(B-0 -> K-1(1270)(+)pi(-) + K-1(1400)(+)pi(-)) = 3.1(-0.7)(+0.8) x 10(-5) and B(B+ -> K-1(1270)(0)pi(+) + K1(1400)(0)pi(+)) = 2.9(-1.7)(+2.9) x 10(-5) (< 8.2 x 10(-5) at 90% confidence level), where the errors are statistical and systematic combined. The B-0 decay mode is observed with a significance of 7.5 sigma, while a significance of 3.2 sigma is obtained for the B+ decay mode. Based on these results, we estimate the weak phase alpha = (79 +/- 7 +/- 11)degrees from the time-dependent CP asymmetries in B-0 -> a(1)(1260)(+/-)pi(-/+) decays.