Search for Production ofD*−by Pions near Threshold

Abstract

We have searched for production of charmed mesons in the reaction ${\pi }^{-}+N\to D^{*-}+X$, $D^{*-}\to {\pi }^{-}+{\overline{D}}^0$, ${\overline{D}}^0\to K^{+}+{\pi }^{-}$ at a beam momentum of 10.5 GeV/c. We measure the cross section times branching ratio to be 7±20 nb/nucleon.