Production ofJ/ψMesons fromχcMeson Decays inpp¯Collisions at√s=1.8TeV

We have measured the fraction of $J/\psi$ mesons originating from ${\chi }_c$ meson decays in $p\overline{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.8\mathrm{}\mathrm{TeV}$. The fraction, for $P_T^{J/\psi }>4.0\mathrm{}\mathrm{GeV}/c$ and $|{\eta }^{J/\psi }|<0.6\mathrm{}$, not including contributions from $b$ flavored hadrons, is $29.7\%\pm 1.7\%\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)\pm 5.7\%\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)$. We have determined the cross sections for $J/\psi$ mesons originating from ${\chi }_c$ decays and for directly produced $J/\psi$ mesons. We have found that direct $J/\psi$ production is in excess of the prediction of the color singlet model by the same factor found for direct $\psi \left(2S\right)$ production.