Using the large hadroproduced charm sample collected in experiment E791 at
Fermilab, we report the first directly measured constraint on the decay-wid
th difference Delta Gamma for the mass eigenstates of the D-0-(D) over bar(
0) system. We obtain our result from lifetime measurements of the decays D-
0 --> K(-)pi(+) and D-0 --> K-K+, under the assumption of CP invariance, wh
ich implies that the CP eigenstates and the mass eigenstates are the same.
The lifetime of D-0 --> K-K+ (the CP-even final state) is tau(KK) = 0.410 /- 0.011 +/- 0.006 ps, and the lifetime of D-0 --> K(-)pi(+) (an equal mixt
ure of CP-odd and CP-even final states) is tau(K pi) = 0.413 +/- 0.003 +/-
0.004 ps. The decay-width difference is Delta Gamma = 2(Gamma(KK) - Gamma(K
pi)) = 0.04 +/- 0.14 +/- 0.05 ps(-1). We relate these measurements to meas
urements of mixing in the neutral D-meson system.