Search for $B_{(s)}^{\ast 0}\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ in $B_c^{+}\to \ddot{I}{€}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ decays

Abstract

A search for the very rare $B^{\ast 0}\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ and $B_s^{\ast 0}\to \hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ decays is conducted by analysing the $B_c^{+}\to \ddot{I}{€}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ process. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector between 2011 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9${\text{fb}}^{-1}$. The signal signatures correspond to simultaneous peaks in the $\hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ and $\ddot{I}{€}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{+}\hat{I}{¼}^{-}$ invariant masses. No evidence for an excess of events over background is observed for either signal decay mode. Upper limits at the $90\%$ confidence level are set on the branching fractions relative to that for $B_c^{+}\to J/\ddot{I}ˆ\ddot{I}{€}^{+}$ decays, \begin{equation*} {\cal R}_{B^{*0}(μ^+μ^-)π^+/J\mskip -3mu/\mskip -2muψπ^+} < 3.8\times 10^{-5}\ \text{ and }\: {\cal R}_{B_{s}^{*0}(μ^+μ^-)π^+/J\mskip -3mu/\mskip -2muψπ^+} < 5.0\times 10^{-5}\,. \end{equation*}

All figures and tables, along with machine-readable versions and any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lbfence.cern.ch/alcm/public/analysis/full-details/1796/ (LHCb public pages)