Partial Reconstruction of B⁰to D_s^(ast+) D^(ast-) Decays and Measurement of the D_s^+toφπ^+ Branching Fraction

We present preliminary results on the branching fractions $BF(B^0\to D_s^{\ast+} D^{\ast-})$ and $BF(D_s^+\to\phi\pi^+)$, based on a data sample of approximately $124\times10^6$ \BB events collected by the \babar detector at the PEP-II $e^+ e^-$ \B--factory. $BF(B^0\to D_s^{\ast+} D^{\ast-})$ is measured selecting neutral \B meson decays to the final state $D_s^{\ast+} D^{\ast-}$ with partial reconstruction of the $D_s^{\ast+}$, in which only the $D^{\ast-}$ and the soft photons from the decay $D_s^{\ast+} \to D_s^+ \gamma$ are reconstructed. The branching fraction product $BF(B^0\to D_s^{\ast+} D^{\ast-}) \cdot BF(D_s^+\to\phi\pi^+)$ is measured via a complete reconstruction of the whole decay chain. Comparing these two measurements provides a model-independent determination of the $BF(D_s^+\to\phi\pi^+)$ branching fraction. We obtain the following preliminary results: $BF(B^0\to D_s^{\ast+} D^{\ast-}) = (1.85 \pm 0.09 \pm 0.16)%$, $BF(D_s^+\to\phi\pi^+) = (4.71 \pm 0.47 \pm 0.35)%$ where the first error in each measurement is statistical, the second systematic.