Like-sign dimuon charge asymmetry at the Tevatron: Corrections from B meson fragmentation

The existing predictions for the like-sign dimuon charge asymmetry at the Tevatron are expressed in terms of parameters related to B mesons' mixing and inclusive production fractions. We show that in the realistic case when phase-space cuts are applied, the asymmetry depends also on the details of the production mechanism for the B mesons. In particular, it is sensitive to the difference in the fragmentation functions of Bd0 and Bs0 mesons. We estimate these fragmentation effects and find that they shift the theory prediction for this observable by approximately 10%. We also point out the approximately 20% sensitivity of the asymmetry depending on which set of values for the B meson production fractions is used: as measured at the Z pole or at the Tevatron. The impact of these effects on the extraction of ASLs from the D0 measurement is presented.