Precise measurement of the form factors in $D^0\rightarrow K^*(892)^-\ell^+\nu_{\ell}$ and observation of $D^0\rightarrow K_2^*(1430)^-\ell^+\nu_{\ell}$

Abstract

We report a study of the semileptonic decays $D^0 \rightarrow \bar{K}^0\pi^-\ell^+\nu_{\ell}$ (where $\ell=e,~\mu$) based on a sample of $20.3~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ annihilation data collected at a center-of-mass energy of 3.773~GeV with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. Based on an investigation of the decay dynamics in $D^0 \rightarrow \bar{K}^0\pi^-\ell^+\nu_{\ell}$ decays, a $\mathcal{D}-$wave component of $D^0\rightarrow K_2^*(1430)^-\ell^+\nu_{\ell}$ is observed for the first time with a statistical significance of $8.0\sigma$, in addition to the dominant $K^*(892)^-$ and $\mathcal{S}-$wave components. The $\mathcal{D}-$wave component is determined to account for $(0.092 \pm 0.028_{\rm stat} \pm 0.018_{\rm syst})\%$ of the total decay rate. The branching fractions of the dominant $K^*(892)^-$ components are measured as $\mathcal{B}(D^0\rightarrow K^{*}(892)^-e^+\nu_{e}) = (2.043 \pm 0.018_{\rm stat} \pm 0.012_{\rm syst})\%$ and $\mathcal{B}(D^0\rightarrow K^{*}(892)^-\mu^+\nu_{\mu}) = (1.964 \pm 0.018_{\rm stat} \pm 0.012_{\rm syst})\%$, which are the most precise measurements to date and represent significant improvements over the previous world averages. The hadronic form-factor parameters are measured to be $r_{V} = V(0)/A_1(0) = 1.444 \pm 0.026_{\rm stat} \pm 0.010_{\rm syst}$, $r_{2} = A_2(0)/A_1(0) = 0.752 \pm 0.020_{\rm stat} \pm 0.004_{\rm syst}$, and $A_1(0)=0.618\pm0.002_{\rm stat} \pm0.004_{\rm syst}$, where $V(0)$ is the vector form factor and $A_{1,2}(0)$ are the axial-vector form factors evaluated at $q^2=0$. This is the most precise determination of the form-factor parameters to date measured in a $D\rightarrow K^*(892)$ transition. In addition, we report the first model-independent measurement of the $\mathcal{S}-$wave phase shift in the hadronic $\bar{K}^0\pi^-$ system.