Advantages and disadvantages of data analysis using semileptonic decay of the B0 meson

Abstract

In this thesis we studied the advantages and disadvantages of using a semileptonic decay channel to separate the signal of B0 mesons from the background in high energy proton-proton collisions at the ALICE experiment. The advantages offered by this approach are that there are extra variables in which one can apply cuts to separate signal from background. Disadvantages of this approach a lower branching ratio than certain hadronic decay channels and most significantly missing neutrino energy. This missing energy can be reconstructed, albeit only in approximation.