David Bacher

Abstract:

The invariant-mass distribution for the coherent photoproduction of dipions in ultraperipheral PbPb collisions is measured using data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 224.6 ± 9.6μb−1, collected by the LHCb experiment in 2018 at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy sNN=5.02 TeV. In the mass range from 400 to 1200 MeV, the results are consistent with previous experiments, with the spectrum dominated by the ρ0 meson, which interferes with a nonresonant component, together with a smaller ω meson contribution. In an extended mass range up to 2300 MeV, models previously used do not fit the data and a consistent description requires the introduction of two resonances at masses of 1350 ± 20 MeV and 1790 ± 20 MeV with widths of about 300 MeV. The cross-section for each meson is measured differentially in twelve bins of rapidity from 2.05 to 4.90. The ρ0 cross-section increases with rapidity from about 400 to 600 mb and is measured with a typical precision of 8%, while the cross-section times branching fraction for the ω, ρ′ and ρ′′, with the statistical precision of the data, do not have a pronounced rapidity dependence and are between 0.5 and 1.5mb, with uncertainties up to 30%. A large nuclear suppression is observed for the ρ0 meson compared to expectations based on photoproduction on the proton that use the impulse approximation. Significant suppression is also observed compared to that predicted by elastic scattering described in the Glauber approach, or with the addition of inelastic scattering in a Gribov-Glauber model.

Abstract:

A new algorithm is developed to identify the flavour of neutral B mesons at production in pp collisions by utilising all tracks from the hadronisation process. The algorithm is calibrated separately for B0 and Bs0 mesons using B0 → J/ψK+π− and Bs0→Ds−π+ decays from pp collision data collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. This new algorithm improves the tagging power by 35% for B0 mesons and 20% for Bs0 mesons when compared to the combined performance of the existing LHCb flavour-tagging algorithms.

Abstract:

A study of Λb0 and Ξb0 baryon decays to the final states pKS0π− and pKS0K− is performed using pp collision data collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb−1. The decays Λb0→pKS0K− and Ξb0→pKS0K− are observed for the first time, with significances reaching eight standard deviations. The branching fractions and integrated CP asymmetries are measured for the Λb0→pKS0π−, Λb0→pKS0K−, and Ξb0→pKS0K− decays. For the decay Λb0→pKS0π−, the CP asymmetries are measured in different regions of the Dalitz plot. No evidence of CP violation is observed.

Abstract:

A time-integrated angular analysis of the decay Bs0→J/ψK¯∗8920, with J/ψ → μ+μ− and K¯∗8920→K−π+, is presented. The analysis employs a sample of proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment during 2015–2018 at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6 fb−1. A simultaneous maximum-likelihood fit is performed to the angular distributions in bins of the K−π+ mass. This fit yields measurements of the CP-averaged polarisation fractions and CP asymmetries for the P-wave component of the K−π+ system. The longitudinal and parallel polarisation fractions are determined to be f0 = 0.534 ± 0.012 ± 0.009 and f|| = 0.211 ± 0.014 ± 0.005, respectively, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The CP asymmetries are measured with 3–7% precision and are found to be consistent with zero. These measurements, along with an updated determination of the branching fraction relative to the B0 → J/ψK*0 decay, are combined with previous LHCb results, providing the most precise values for these observables to date.

Abstract:

A search for the doubly-charmed-baryon decay Ξcc++→Ξc0π+π+ is performed using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb−1. A significant structure consistent with the Ξcc++ baryon is observed in the Ξc0π+π+ invariant-mass spectrum. Using the Ξcc++→Λc+K−π+π+ decay as the normalisation channel, the branching fraction ratio, BΞcc++→Ξc0π+π+BΞcc++→Λc+K−π+π+, is measured to be 1.37 ± 0.18 (stat) ± 0.09 (syst) ± 0.35 (ext). This measurement provides critical input for testing QCD factorisation methods in the weak decays of doubly-heavy baryons, particularly in quantifying nonperturbative effects such as final-state interactions and resonance contributions to the hadronisation process.