2 August 2023 in Physical Review D
A simultaneous analysis of the and decays is performed to test muon-electron universality in two ranges of the square of the dilepton invariant mass, . The measurement uses a sample of beauty meson decays produced in proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector between 2011 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of . A sequence of multivariate selections and strict particle identification requirements produce a higher signal purity and a better statistical sensitivity per unit luminosity than previous LHCb lepton universality tests using the same decay modes. Residual backgrounds due to misidentified hadronic decays are studied using data and included in the fit model. Each of the four lepton universality measurements reported is either the first in the given interval or supersedes previous LHCb measurements. The results are compatible with the predictions of the Standard Model.
27 July 2023 in Physical Review D
The branching fraction is measured relative to that of the normalization mode using hadronic decays in proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of . The measured ratio is , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is related to systematic effects. Using established branching fractions for the and modes, the lepton universality test is calculated, , where the third uncertainty is due to the uncertainties on the external branching fractions. This result is consistent with the Standard Model prediction and with previous measurements.
1 May 2024 in Journal of Instrumentation
The LHCb upgrade represents a major change of the experiment. The detectors have been almost completely renewed to allow running at an instantaneous luminosity five times larger than that of the previous running periods. Readout of all detectors into an all-software trigger is central to the new design, facilitating the reconstruction of events at the maximum LHC interaction rate, and their selection in real time. The experiment's tracking system has been completely upgraded with a new pixel vertex detector, a silicon tracker upstream of the dipole magnet and three scintillating fibre tracking stations downstream of the magnet. The whole photon detection system of the RICH detectors has been renewed and the readout electronics of the calorimeter and muon systems have been fully overhauled. The first stage of the all-software trigger is implemented on a GPU farm. The output of the trigger provides a combination of totally reconstructed physics objects, such as tracks and vertices, ready for final analysis, and of entire events which need further offline reprocessing. This scheme required a complete revision of the computing model and rewriting of the experiment's software.
27 July 2023 in Physical Review D
Resonant contributions in and decays are determined with an amplitude analysis, which is performed both separately and simultaneously, where in the latter case isospin symmetry between the decays is assumed. The analysis is based on data collected by the LHCb detector in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV. The full data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of . A doubly charged spin-0 open-charm tetraquark candidate together with a neutral partner, both with masses near 2.9 GeV, are observed in the decay channel.
29 August 2023 in Physical Review Letters
The time-integrated asymmetry in the Cabibbo-suppressed decay is measured using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of collected at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the LHCb detector. The mesons are required to originate from promptly produced decays, and the charge of the companion pion is used to determine the flavor of the charm meson at production. The time-integrated asymmetry is measured to be where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The direct asymmetries in and decays, and , are derived by combining with the time-integrated asymmetry difference, , and other inputs, giving with a correlation coefficient corresponding to . The compatibility of these results with symmetry is 1.4 and 3.8 standard deviations for and decays, respectively. This is the first evidence for direct violation in a specific decay.