A study of the decay width difference in the B0s–B̄0s system using φφ correlations

In a data sample of about four million hadronic Z decays recorded with the ALEPH detector from 1991 to 1995, the B0s→D(∗)+sD(∗)−s decay is observed, based on tagging the final state with two φ mesons in the same hemisphere. The Ds(∗)+Ds(∗)− final state is mostly CP even and corresponds to the short-lived B0s mass eigenstate. The branching ratio of this decay is measured to be BR(B0s(short) →D(∗)+sD(∗)−s) =(23±10 −9+19)%. A measurement of the lifetime of the B0s(short) gives 1.27±0.33±0.08 ps. The lifetime and branching ratio measurements provide two essentially independent methods of estimating the relative decay width difference ΔΓ/Γ in the B0s–B̄0s system, corresponding to an average value ΔΓ/Γ=(25+21−14)%.