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Measurement of the $D^0 \to π^- e^+ ν_e$ differential decay branching fraction as a function of $q^2$ and study of form factor parameterizations

Based on a sample of 500 million $e^+e^- \to c\bar c$ events recorded by the BaBar detector at c.m. energies of close to 10.6 GeV, we report on a study of the decay $D^0 \to π^- e^+ ν_e$. We measure the ratio of branching fractions $R_D = {\cal B}(D^0 \to π^- e^+ ν_e)/{\cal B}(D^0 \to K^- π^+) = 0.0713 \pm 0.0017_{stat.} \pm 0.0024_{syst.}$, and use the present world average for ${\cal B}(D^0 \to K^- π^+)$ to obtain ${\cal B}(D^0 \to π^- e^+ ν_e) = (2.770 \pm 0.068_{\rm stat.} \pm 0.092_{\rm syst.} \pm 0.037_{\rm ext.})\times 10^{-3}$ where the third error accounts for the uncertainty on the branching fraction for the reference channel. The measured dependence of the differential branching fraction on $q^2$, the four-momentum transfer squared between the $D$ and the $π$ meson, is compared to various theoretical predictions for the hadronic form factor, $f_{+,D}^π(q^2)$, and the normalization $|V_{cd}| \times f_{+,D}^π(q^2=0)=0.1374\pm0.0038_{\rm stat.} \pm0.0022_{\rm syst.} \pm0.0009_{\rm ext.}$ is extracted from a fit to data. Using the most recent LQCD prediction of $f_{+,D}^π(q^2=0)=0.666 \pm 0.029$, we obtain $|V_{cd}|=0.206 \pm 0.007_{\rm exp.} \pm 0.009_{\rm LQCD}$. Assuming instead, $|V_{cd}|=|V_{us}|=0.2252 \pm 0.0009$, we obtain $f_{+,D}^π(q^2=0)=0.610 \pm 0.020_{\rm exp.} \pm 0.005_{\rm ext.}$. The $q^2$ dependence of $f_{+,D}^π(q^2)$ is compared to a variety of multi-pole parameterizations. This information is applied to $B^0 \to π^- e^+ ν_e$ decays and, combined with an earlier $B^0 \to π^- e^+ ν_e$ measurement by BaBar, is used to derive estimates of $|V_{ub}|$.