Measurement of D^0-\overline{D^0} Mixing using the Ratio of Lifetimes for the Decays D^0 \to K^-\pi^+, K^-K^+, and \pi^-\pi^+

The authors present a measurement of D{sup 0}-{bar D}{sup 0} mixing parameters using the ratios of lifetimes extracted from a sample of D{sup 0} mesons produced through the process D*{sup +} {yields} D{sup 0}{pi}{sup +}, that decay to K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}, I{sup -}K{sup +}, or {pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +}. the Cabibbo-suppressed modes K{sup -}K{sup +} and {pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup +} are compared to the Cabibbo-favored mode K{sup -}{pi}{sup +} to obtain a measurement of ycp, which in the limit of CP conservation corresponds to the mixing parameter y. The analysis is based on a data sample of 384 fb{sup -1} collected by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collider. They obtain ycp = [1.24 {+-} 0.39(stat) {+-} 0.13(syst)]%, which is evidence of D{sup 0}-{bar D}{sup 0} mixing at the 3{sigma} level, and {Delta}Y = [-0.26 {+-} 0.36(stat) {+-} 0.08(syst)]%, where {Delta}Y constrains possible CP violation. Combining this result with a previous BABAR measurement of ycp obtained from a separate sample of D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup -}K{sup +} events, they obtain ycp = [1.03 {+-} 0.33(stat) {+-} 0.19(syst)]%