Search for the $\hat{I}{›}_b\to \hat{I}›\hat{I}{\cdot }^{\prime }$ and $\hat{I}{›}_b\to \hat{I}›\hat{I}\cdot$ decays with the LHCb detector

Abstract

A search is performed for the as yet unobserved baryonic $\hat{I}{›}_b\to \hat{I}›\hat{I}{\cdot }^{\prime }$ and $\hat{I}{›}_b\to \hat{I}›\hat{I}\cdot$ decays with 3$f{b}^{-1}$ of proton-proton collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment. The $B^0\to K_S^0\hat{I}{\cdot }^{\prime }$ decay is used as a normalisation channel. No significant signal is observed for the $\hat{I}{›}_b\to \hat{I}›\hat{I}{\cdot }^{\prime }$ decay. An upper limit is found on the branching fraction of $\mathcal{B}(\hat{I}{›}_b\to \hat{I}›\hat{I}{\cdot }^{\prime })<3.1\times 10^{-6}$} at 90\% confidence level. Evidence is seen for the presence of the $\hat{I}{›}_b\to \hat{I}›\hat{I}\cdot$ decay at the level of $3\ddot{I}ƒ$ significance, with a branching fraction $\mathcal{B}(\hat{I}{›}_b\to \hat{I}›\hat{I}\cdot )=(9.3_{-5.3}^{+7.3})\times 10^{-6}$}.

22 pages, 6 figures. v2 is published version (very minor revisions)