Observation of a narrow charm-strange meson D(+)(sJ)(2632)-->D(+)(s)eta and D(0)K(+).

We report the first observation of a charm-strange meson D(+)(sJ)(2632) at a mass of 2632.5+/-1.7 MeV/c(2) in data from SELEX, the charm hadro-production experiment E781 at Fermilab. This state is seen in two decay modes, D(+)(s)eta and D0K+. In the D(+)(s)eta decay mode we observe a peak with 101 events over a combinatoric background of 54.9 events at a mass of 2635.4+/-3.3 MeV/c(2). There is a corresponding peak of 21 events over a background of 6.9 at 2631.5+/-2.0 MeV/c(2) in the decay mode D0K+. The decay width of this state is <17 MeV/c(2) at 90% confidence level. The relative branching ratio Gamma(D0K+)/Gamma(D(+)(s)eta) is 0.14+/-0.06. The mechanism that keeps this state narrow is unclear. Its decay pattern is also unusual, being dominated by the D(+)(s)eta decay mode.

First observation of the doubly charmed baryon Xi(+)(cc).

We observe a signal for the doubly charmed baryon Xi(+)(cc) in the charged decay mode Xi(+)(cc)-->Lambda(+)(c)K-pi(+) in data from SELEX, the charm hadroproduction experiment at Fermilab. We observe an excess of 15.9 events over an expected background of 6.1+/-0.5 events, a statistical significance of 6.3sigma. The observed mass of this state is 3519+/-1 MeV/c(2). The Gaussian mass width of this state is 3 MeV/c(2), consistent with resolution; its lifetime is less than 33 fs at 90% confidence.

Precision measurements of the lambda(+)(c) and D0 lifetimes.

We report new precision measurements of the lifetimes of the Lambda(+)(c) and D0 from SELEX, the charm hadroproduction experiment at Fermilab. Based upon 1630 Lambda(+)(c) and 10 210 D0 decays we observe lifetimes of tau[Lambda(+)(c)] = 198.1+/-7.0+/-5.6 fs and tau[D0] = 407.9+/-6.0+/-4.3 fs.

Observation of the Cabibbo-Suppressed Decay Ξ_{c}

We report the first observation of the Cabibbo-suppressed charm baryon decay Ξ_{c}^{+}→pK^{-}π^{+}. We observe 150±22±5 events for the signal. The data were accumulated using the SELEX spectrometer during the 1996-1997 fixed target run at Fermilab, chiefly from a 600 GeV/c Σ^{-} beam. The branching fractions of the decay relative to the Cabibbo-favored Ξ_{c}^{+}→Σ^{+}K^{-}π^{+} and Ξ_{c}^{+}→Ξ^{-}π^{+}π^{+} are measured to be B(Ξ_{c}^{+}→pK^{-}π^{+})/B(Ξ_{c}^{+}→Σ^{+}K^{-}π^{+})=0.22±0.06±0.03 and B(Ξ_{c}^{+}→pK^{-}π^{+})/B(Ξ_{c}^{+}→Ξ^{-}π^{+}π^{+})=0.20±0.04±0.02, respectively.

Modified agglutination test for Pasteurella tularensis.

Several modifications in technique were incorporated into the standard agglutination test for Pasteurella tularensis. Reciprocal shaking of all tubes in a Kahn shaker was introduced to increase the rate of agglutination and quantity of agglutinated cell mass, making it possible to report preliminary results within 4 hr. Increased incubation time at a higher temperature was used to favor the rate of agglutination. A serum control for each serum tested was necessary to detect false positive tests. Finally, a verification procedure with 5% NaCl used as the diluent was instituted to prevent these false positive reactions.