Measurement of the $B$~Meson Production Cross Section Using $B\to\mu^- D^0 X$

We present a measurement of the cross section of $B$~meson production in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$~TeV using the CDF\,II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. We use 83~pb$^{-1}$ of data taken between October 2002 and May 2003 that was collected with a trigger sensitive to high momentum muons and displaced tracks. We use partially reconstructed decays in the following modes: $B \to \mu^{-} D^0 X$, $D^0 \to K^{-} \pi^{+}$, $B \to \mu^{-} D^{*+} X$, $D^{*+} \to D^{0} \pi^{+}$, $D^0 \to K^{-} \pi^{+}$, and their charge conjugates. We correct for irreducible backgrounds, trigger efficiencies, and detector acceptance. We report the total cross section above a minimum transverse momentum ($p_T$) of 9~GeV/$c$ for the rapidity range $|y|\leq 0.6$.