Study of B→ψ(2S) K and B→ψ(2S) K*(892) decays -: art. no. 031103

Color-suppressed decays of B mesons to final states with psi (2S) mesons have been observed with the CLEO detector. The branching fractions for the decays B+--> psi (2S)K+, B+--> psi (2S)K*(892)(+), B-0--> psi (2S)K-0, and B-0--> psi (2S)K*(892)(0) are measured to be (7.8 +/- 0.7 +/- 0.9) x 10(-4), (9.2 +/- 1.9 +/- 1.2) x 10(-4), (5.0 +/- 1.1 +/- 0.6) x 10(-4), and (7.6 +/- 1.1 +/- 1.0) x 10(-4), respectively, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The first measurement of the longitudinal polarization fraction is extracted from the angular analysis of the B --> psi (2S)K*(892) candidates: Gamma (L)/Gamma = 0.45 +/- 0.11 +/- 0.04. Our measurements of the decays B-0 --> psi (2s)K-0 and B+--> psi (2S)K*(892)(+) are first observations.