The production of wrong sign charmed mesons b --> (D) over bar X-(s), D-(s) = (D-0, D+, D-s), is studied using the data collected by the DELPHI experiment in the years 1994 and 1995. Charmed mesons in Z --> b (b) over bar events are exclusively reconstructed by searching for the decays D-0 --> K(-)pi(+), D+ --> K(-)pi(+)pi(+) and D-s(+) --> phipi(+) --> K(+)K(-)pi(+). The wrong sign contribution is extracted by using two discriminant variables: the charge of the b-quark at decay time, estimated from the charges of identified particles, and the momentum of the charmed meson in the rest frame of the b-hadron. The inclusive branching fractions of b-hadrons into wrong sign charm mesons are measured to be: B(b --> (D) over bar X-0) + B(b --> D-X) = (9.3 +/- 1.7(stat) +/- 1.3(syst) +/- 0.4(B))%, B(b --> Ds-X) = (10.1 +/- 1.0(stat) +/- 0.6(syst) +/- 2.8(B))% where the first error is statistical, the second and third errors are systematic. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.
