Search for time-dependent $CP$ violation in $D^0 \to K^+ K^-$ and $D^0 \to π^+ π^-$ decays

Abstract

A search for time-dependent violation of the charge-parity symmetry in $D^0 \to K^+ K^-$ and $D^0 \to π^+ π^-$ decays is performed at the LHCb experiment using proton-proton collision data recorded from 2015 to 2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6 fb$^{-1}$. The $D^0$ meson is required to originate from a $D^*(2010)^+ \to D^0 π^+$ decay, such that its flavour at production is identified by the charge of the accompanying pion. The slope of the time-dependent asymmetry of the decay rates of $D^0$ and $\bar{D}^0$ mesons into the final states under consideration is measured to be $ΔY_{K^+ K^-} = (-2.3 \pm 1.5 \pm 0.3) \times 10^{-4}$, $ΔY_{π^+ π^-} = (-4.0 \pm 2.8 \pm 0.4)\times 10^{-4}$, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. These results are compatible with the conservation of the charge-parity symmetry at the level of 2 standard deviations and improve the precision by nearly a factor of two.

Updated to match published version; all figures and tables, along with supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2020-045.html