LHCb

Abstract:

A test of lepton universality between muons and electrons is performed using B+ → K+ℓ+ℓ− decays (where ℓ = e, μ), in the dilepton invariant-mass-squared region above 14.3 GeV2/c4. The data used for the measurement consists of beauty meson decays produced in proton-proton collisions, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb−1, collected by the LHCb experiment between 2011 and 2018. The ratio of branching fractions for B+→ K+μ+μ− and B+→ K+e+e− decays is measured to be RK=1.08−0.09+0.11stat−0.04+0.04syst, which is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of unity. This constitutes the most precise test of lepton flavour universality using B+ → K+ℓ+ℓ− decays with dilepton invariant-mass-squared above the ψ(2S) mass, whilst being the first of its kind at a hadron collider.

Abstract:

The Standard Model of particle physics—the theory of particles and interactions at the smallest scale—predicts that matter and antimatter interact differently due to violation of the combined symmetry of charge conjugation (C) and parity (P). Charge conjugation transforms particles into their antimatter particles, whereas the parity transformation inverts spatial coordinates. This prediction applies to both mesons, which consist of a quark and an antiquark, and baryons, which are composed of three quarks. However, despite having been discovered in various meson decays, CP violation has yet to be observed in baryons, the type of matter that makes up the observable Universe. Here we report a study of the decay of the beauty baryon Λ0b$${\varLambda }_{0}^{b}$$ to the pK−π+π− final state, which proceeds through b → u or b → s quark-level transitions, and its CP-conjugated process, using data collected by the Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment1 at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The results reveal significant asymmetries between the decay rates of the Λ0b$${\varLambda }_{0}^{b}$$ baryon and its CP-conjugated antibaryon, providing, to our knowledge, the first observation of CP violation in baryon decays and demonstrating the different behaviours of baryons and antibaryons. In the Standard Model, CP violation arises from the Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa mechanism2, and new forces or particles beyond the Standard Model could provide further contributions. This discovery opens a new path in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model.