Measurement of the Average $\phi$ Multiplicity in $B$ Meson Decay

We present a measurement of the average multiplicity of $\phi$ mesons in $B^0$, $\kern 0.18em\bar{\kern -0.18em B}{}^0$ and $B^\pm$ meson decays. Using $17.6 fb^{-1}$ of data taken at the $\Upsilon{(4S)}\xspace$ resonance by the {\slshape B\kern-0.1em{\smaller A}\kern-0.1em B\kern-0.1em{\smaller A\kern-0.2em R}} detector at the PEP-II $e^+e^-\xspace$ storage ring at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, we reconstruct $\phi$ mesons in the $K^+K^-$ decay mode and measure ${\cal{B}}(B\to \phi X) = (3.41\pm0.06\pm0.12)$. This is significantly more precise than any previous measurement.