Isospin considerations in correlations of pions and B mesons.

The correlations between a B meson and a pion produced nearby in phase space should respect isospin reflection symmetry I3 → −I3. Thus, one generally expects similar πB and πB correlations (nonexotic channels), and similar πB and πB correlations (exotic channels). Exceptions include (a) fragmentation processes involving exchange of quarks with the producing system, (b) misidentification of charged kaons as charged pions, and (c) effects of decay products of the associated B. All of these can affect the apparent signal for correlations of charged B mesons with charged hadrons. The identification of the flavor of neutral B mesons through the decay B → KJ/ψ requires good particle identification in order that the decay K → Kπ not be mistaken for K ∗0 → Kπ, in which case the correlations of neutral B mesons with hadrons can be underestimated.