- Open Access
Measurement of the branching fractions and longitudinal polarizations of decays
Phys. Rev. D 113, 092002 – Published 8 May, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/cd57-xr8f
Abstract
A time- and flavor-integrated amplitude analysis of and decays to the final state in the region is presented, using collision data recorded with the LHCb detector in 2011–2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of . The branching fractions of the and decays are measured relative to the and modes, respectively. The corresponding longitudinal polarization fractions are found to be and , where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The theory-motivated ratio of the squared to longitudinally polarized decay amplitudes is found to be , where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, due to uncertainty of external mass and lifetime measurements, and due to knowledge of the fragmentation fraction ratio, respectively. This confirms the previously reported tension between experimental determinations and theoretical predictions of longitudinal polarization in decays at the level of 4.4 standard deviations.
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