Measurement of the $B_s^0\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ branching fraction and effective lifetime and search for $B^0\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ decays

Abstract

A search for the rare decays $B_s^0\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ and $B^0\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ is performed at the LHCb experiment using data collected in $pp$ collisions corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb${}^{-1}$. An excess of $B_s^0\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ decays is observed with a significance of 7.8 standard deviations, representing the first observation of this decay in a single experiment. The branching fraction is measured to be $\mathcal{B}(B_s^0\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-})=\left(3.0\pm 0.6_{-0.2}^{+0.3}\right)\times 10^{-9}$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The first measurement of the $B_s^0\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ effective lifetime, $\ddot{I}„(B_s^0\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-})=2.04\pm 0.44\pm 0.05$ ps, is reported. No significant excess of $B^0\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ decays is found and a 95 % confidence level upper limit, $\mathcal{B}(B^0\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-})<3.4\times 10^{-10}$, is determined. All results are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations.

All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2017-001.html