Search for the lepton-flavour violating decays $B^0 \to K^{*0} μ^\pm e^\mp$ and $B_s^0 \to ϕμ^\pm e^\mp$

Abstract

A search for the lepton-flavour violating decays $B^0 \to K^{*0} μ^\pm e^\mp$ and $B_s^0 \to ϕμ^\pm e^\mp$ is presented, using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $9\,\text{fb}^{-1}$. No significant signals are observed and upper limits of \begin{align} {\cal B}( B^0 \to K^{*0} μ^+ e^- ) &< \phantom{1}5.7\times 10^{-9}~(6.9\times 10^{-9}),\newline {\cal B}( B^0 \to K^{*0} μ^- e^+ ) &< \phantom{1}6.8\times 10^{-9}~(7.9\times 10^{-9}),\newline {\cal B}( B^0 \to K^{*0} μ^\pm e^\mp ) &< 10.1\times 10^{-9}~(11.7\times 10^{-9}),\newline {\cal B}( B_s^0 \to ϕμ^\pm e^\mp ) &< 16.0\times 10^{-9}~(19.8\times 10^{-9}) \end{align} are set at $90\%~(95\%)$ confidence level. These results constitute the world's most stringent limits to date, with the limit on the decay $B_s^0 \to ϕμ^\pm e^\mp$ the first being set. In addition, limits are reported for scalar and left-handed lepton-flavour violating New Physics scenarios.

All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/p/LHCb-PAPER-2022-008.html (LHCb public pages)