Title: The Charm Decay Scale at CLEO-c

Abstract:

Measurements of quantities such as |Vcb| or the Z->c cbar branching fraction, which involve absolute rates of processes involving decays to charm quarks, depend on precise values of "reference" charmed meson branching fractions. I will discuss new measurements of reference branching fractions from the CLEO-c experiment at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, enabled by the large data sample of charmed meson decays near threshold collected since 2003. These results are limited by very different systematic uncertainties than previous measurements, and in many cases are more precise than previous world averages.