Open Access

Evidence for $B^{-} \to D^{* * 0} τ^{-} \bar{ν_{τ}}$ Decays

R. Aaij ³⁸, A. S. W. Abdelmotteleb ⁵⁷, C. Abellan Beteta ⁵¹, F. Abudinén ⁵⁷, T. Ackernley ⁶¹, A. A. Adefisoye ⁶⁹, B. Adeva ⁴⁷, M. Adinolfi ⁵⁵, P. Adlarson ⁸² et al. (LHCb Collaboration)

P. Adlarson ⁸², C. Agapopoulou ¹⁴, C. A. Aidala ⁸³, Z. Ajaltouni¹¹, S. Akar ⁶⁶, K. Akiba ³⁸, P. Albicocco ²⁸, J. Albrecht ^19,b, F. Alessio ⁴⁹, Z. Aliouche ⁶³, P. Alvarez Cartelle ⁵⁶, R. Amalric ¹⁶, S. Amato ³, J. L. Amey ⁵⁵, Y. Amhis ¹⁴, L. An ⁶, L. Anderlini ²⁷, M. Andersson ⁵¹, A. Andreianov ⁴⁴, P. Andreola ⁵¹, M. Andreotti ²⁶, D. Andreou ⁶⁹, A. Anelli ^31,c, D. Ao ⁷, F. Archilli ^37,d, M. Argenton ²⁶, S. Arguedas Cuendis ^9,49, A. Artamonov ⁴⁴, M. Artuso ⁶⁹, E. Aslanides ¹³, R. Ataíde Da Silva ⁵⁰, M. Atzeni ⁶⁵, B. Audurier ¹², D. Bacher ⁶⁴, I. Bachiller Perea ¹⁰, S. Bachmann ²², M. Bachmayer ⁵⁰, J. J. Back ⁵⁷, P. Baladron Rodriguez ⁴⁷, V. Balagura ¹⁵, A. Balboni ²⁶, W. Baldini ²⁶, L. Balzani ¹⁹, H. Bao ⁷, J. Baptista de Souza Leite ⁶¹, C. Barbero Pretel ^47,12, M. Barbetti ²⁷, I. R. Barbosa ⁷⁰, R. J. Barlow ⁶³, M. Barnyakov ²⁵, S. Barsuk ¹⁴, W. Barter ⁵⁹, M. Bartolini ⁵⁶, J. Bartz ⁶⁹, J. M. Basels ¹⁷, S. Bashir ⁴⁰, G. Bassi ^35,e, B. Batsukh ⁵, P. B. Battista ¹⁴, A. Bay ⁵⁰, A. Beck ⁵⁷, M. Becker ¹⁹, F. Bedeschi ³⁵, I. B. Bediaga ², N. A. Behling ¹⁹, S. Belin ⁴⁷, K. Belous ⁴⁴, I. Belov ²⁹, I. Belyaev ³⁶, G. Benane ¹³, G. Bencivenni ²⁸, E. Ben-Haim ¹⁶, A. Berezhnoy ⁴⁴, R. Bernet ⁵¹, S. Bernet Andres ⁴⁵, A. Bertolin ³³, C. Betancourt ⁵¹, F. Betti ⁵⁹, J. Bex ⁵⁶, Ia. Bezshyiko ⁵¹, J. Bhom ⁴¹, M. S. Bieker ¹⁹, N. V. Biesuz ²⁶, P. Billoir ¹⁶, A. Biolchini ³⁸, M. Birch ⁶², F. C. R. Bishop ¹⁰, A. Bitadze ⁶³, A. Bizzeti , T. Blake ⁵⁷, F. Blanc ⁵⁰, J. E. Blank ¹⁹, S. Blusk ⁶⁹, V. Bocharnikov ⁴⁴, J. A. Boelhauve ¹⁹, O. Boente Garcia ¹⁵, T. Boettcher ⁶⁶, A. Bohare ⁵⁹, A. Boldyrev ⁴⁴, C. S. Bolognani ⁷⁹, R. Bolzonella ^26,f, R. B. Bonacci ¹, N. Bondar ⁴⁴, A. Bordelius ⁴⁹, F. Borgato ^33,g, S. Borghi ⁶³, M. Borsato ^31,c, J. T. Borsuk ⁴¹, S. A. Bouchiba ⁵⁰, M. Bovill ⁶⁴, T. J. V. Bowcock ⁶¹, A. Boyer ⁴⁹, C. Bozzi ²⁶, A. Brea Rodriguez ⁵⁰, N. Breer ¹⁹, J. Brodzicka ⁴¹, A. Brossa Gonzalo ^47,a, J. Brown ⁶¹, D. Brundu ³², E. Buchanan ⁵⁹, A. Buonaura ⁵¹, L. Buonincontri ^33,g, A. T. Burke ⁶³, C. Burr ⁴⁹, J. S. Butter ⁵⁶, J. Buytaert ⁴⁹, W. Byczynski ⁴⁹, S. Cadeddu ³², H. Cai ⁷⁴, A. Caillet ¹⁶, R. Calabrese ^26,f, S. Calderon Ramirez ⁹, L. Calefice ⁴⁶, S. Cali ²⁸, M. Calvi ^31,c, M. Calvo Gomez ⁴⁵, P. Camargo Magalhaes ^2,h, J. I. Cambon Bouzas ⁴⁷, P. Campana ²⁸, D. H. Campora Perez ⁷⁹, A. F. Campoverde Quezada ⁷, S. Capelli ³¹, L. Capriotti ²⁶, R. Caravaca-Mora ⁹, A. Carbone ^25,i, L. Carcedo Salgado ⁴⁷, R. Cardinale ^29,j, A. Cardini ³², P. Carniti ^31,c, L. Carus ²², A. Casais Vidal ⁶⁵, R. Caspary ²², G. Casse ⁶¹, M. Cattaneo ⁴⁹, G. Cavallero ^26,49, V. Cavallini ^26,f, S. Celani ²², D. Cervenkov ⁶⁴, S. Cesare ^30,k, A. J. Chadwick ⁶¹, I. Chahrour ⁸³, M. Charles ¹⁶, Ph. Charpentier ⁴⁹, E. Chatzianagnostou ³⁸, M. Chefdeville ¹⁰, C. Chen ¹³, S. Chen ⁵, Z. Chen ⁷, A. Chernov ⁴¹, S. Chernyshenko ⁵³, X. Chiotopoulos ⁷⁹, V. Chobanova ⁸¹, S. Cholak ⁵⁰, M. Chrzaszcz ⁴¹, A. Chubykin ⁴⁴, V. Chulikov ²⁸, P. Ciambrone ²⁸, X. Cid Vidal ⁴⁷, G. Ciezarek ⁴⁹, P. Cifra ⁴⁹, P. E. L. Clarke ⁵⁹, M. Clemencic ⁴⁹, H. V. Cliff ⁵⁶, J. Closier ⁴⁹, C. Cocha Toapaxi ²², V. Coco ⁴⁹, J. Cogan ¹³, E. Cogneras ¹¹, L. Cojocariu ⁴³, S. Collaviti ⁵⁰, P. Collins ⁴⁹, T. Colombo ⁴⁹, M. Colonna ¹⁹, A. Comerma-Montells ⁴⁶, L. Congedo ²⁴, A. Contu ³², N. Cooke ⁶⁰, I. Corredoira ⁴⁷, A. Correia ¹⁶, G. Corti ⁴⁹, J. Cottee Meldrum ⁵⁵, B. Couturier ⁴⁹, D. C. Craik ⁵¹, M. Cruz Torres ^2,l, E. Curras Rivera ⁵⁰, R. Currie ⁵⁹, C. L. Da Silva ⁶⁸, S. Dadabaev ⁴⁴, L. Dai ⁷¹, X. Dai ⁶, E. Dall’Occo ⁴⁹, J. Dalseno ⁴⁷, C. D’Ambrosio ⁴⁹, J. Daniel ¹¹, A. Danilina ⁴⁴, P. d’Argent ²⁴, G. Darze ³, A. Davidson ⁵⁷, J. E. Davies ⁶³, A. Davis ⁶³, O. De Aguiar Francisco ⁶³, C. De Angelis ^32,m, F. De Benedetti ⁴⁹, J. de Boer ³⁸, K. De Bruyn ⁷⁸, S. De Capua ⁶³, M. De Cian ²², U. De Freitas Carneiro Da Graca ^2,n, E. De Lucia ²⁸, J. M. De Miranda ², L. De Paula ³, M. De Serio ^24,o, P. De Simone ²⁸, F. De Vellis ¹⁹, J. A. de Vries ⁷⁹, F. Debernardis ²⁴, D. Decamp ¹⁰, V. Dedu ¹³, S. Dekkers ¹, L. Del Buono ¹⁶, B. Delaney ⁶⁵, H.-P. Dembinski ¹⁹, J. Deng ⁸, V. Denysenko ⁵¹, O. Deschamps ¹¹, F. Dettori ^32,m, B. Dey ⁷⁷, P. Di Nezza ²⁸, I. Diachkov ⁴⁴, S. Didenko ⁴⁴, S. Ding ⁶⁹, L. Dittmann ²², V. Dobishuk ⁵³, A. D. Docheva ⁶⁰, C. Dong ^4,p, A. M. Donohoe ²³, F. Dordei ³², A. C. dos Reis ², A. D. Dowling ⁶⁹, W. Duan ⁷², P. Duda ⁸⁰, M. W. Dudek ⁴¹, L. Dufour ⁴⁹, V. Duk ³⁴, P. Durante ⁴⁹, M. M. Duras ⁸⁰, J. M. Durham ⁶⁸, O. D. Durmus ⁷⁷, A. Dziurda ⁴¹, A. Dzyuba ⁴⁴, S. Easo ⁵⁸, E. Eckstein ¹⁸, U. Egede ¹, A. Egorychev ⁴⁴, V. Egorychev ⁴⁴, S. Eisenhardt ⁵⁹, E. Ejopu ⁶³, L. Eklund ⁸², M. Elashri ⁶⁶, J. Ellbracht ¹⁹, S. Ely ⁶², A. Ene ⁴³, J. Eschle ⁶⁹, S. Esen ²², T. Evans ⁶³, F. Fabiano ^32,m, L. N. Falcao ², Y. Fan ⁷, B. Fang ⁷, L. Fantini ^34,49,q, M. Faria ⁵⁰, K. Farmer ⁵⁹, D. Fazzini ^31,c, L. Felkowski ⁸⁰, M. Feng ^5,7, M. Feo ¹⁹, A. Fernandez Casani ⁴⁸, M. Fernandez Gomez ⁴⁷, A. D. Fernez ⁶⁷, F. Ferrari ^25,i, F. Ferreira Rodrigues ³, M. Ferrillo ⁵¹, M. Ferro-Luzzi ⁴⁹, S. Filippov ⁴⁴, R. A. Fini ²⁴, M. Fiorini ^26,f, M. Firlej ⁴⁰, K. L. Fischer ⁶⁴, D. S. Fitzgerald ⁸³, C. Fitzpatrick ⁶³, T. Fiutowski ⁴⁰, F. Fleuret ¹⁵, M. Fontana ²⁵, L. F. Foreman ⁶³, R. Forty ⁴⁹, D. Foulds-Holt ⁵⁶, V. Franco Lima ³, M. Franco Sevilla ⁶⁷, M. Frank ⁴⁹, E. Franzoso ^26,f, G. Frau ⁶³, C. Frei ⁴⁹, D. A. Friday ⁶³, J. Fu ⁷, Q. Führing ^19,56,b, Y. Fujii ¹, T. Fulghesu ¹⁶, E. Gabriel ³⁸, G. Galati ²⁴, M. D. Galati ³⁸, A. Gallas Torreira ⁴⁷, D. Galli ^25,i, S. Gambetta ⁵⁹, M. Gandelman ³, P. Gandini ³⁰, B. Ganie ⁶³, H. Gao ⁷, R. Gao ⁶⁴, T. Q. Gao ⁵⁶, Y. Gao ⁸, Y. Gao ⁶, Y. Gao ⁸, L. M. Garcia Martin ⁵⁰, P. Garcia Moreno ⁴⁶, J. García Pardiñas⁴⁹, P. Gardner ⁶⁷, K. G. Garg ⁸, L. Garrido ⁴⁶, C. Gaspar ⁴⁹, R. E. Geertsema ³⁸, L. L. Gerken ¹⁹, E. Gersabeck ⁶³, M. Gersabeck ²⁰, T. Gershon ⁵⁷, S. Ghizzo ^29,j, Z. Ghorbanimoghaddam ⁵⁵, L. Giambastiani ^33,g, F. I. Giasemis ^16,r, V. Gibson ⁵⁶, H. K. Giemza ⁴², A. L. Gilman ⁶⁴, M. Giovannetti ²⁸, A. Gioventù ⁴⁶, L. Girardey ^63,58, P. Gironella Gironell ⁴⁶, C. Giugliano ^26,f, M. A. Giza ⁴¹, E. L. Gkougkousis ⁶², F. C. Glaser ^14,22, V. V. Gligorov ^16,49, C. Göbel ⁷⁰, E. Golobardes ⁴⁵, D. Golubkov ⁴⁴, A. Golutvin ^62,49,44, S. Gomez Fernandez ⁴⁶, W. Gomulka ⁴⁰, F. Goncalves Abrantes ⁶⁴, M. Goncerz ⁴¹, G. Gong ^4,p, J. A. Gooding ¹⁹, I. V. Gorelov ⁴⁴, C. Gotti ³¹, J. P. Grabowski ¹⁸, L. A. Granado Cardoso ⁴⁹, E. Graugés ⁴⁶, E. Graverini ^50,s, L. Grazette ⁵⁷, G. Graziani , A. T. Grecu ⁴³, L. M. Greeven ³⁸, N. A. Grieser ⁶⁶, L. Grillo ⁶⁰, S. Gromov ⁴⁴, C. Gu ¹⁵, M. Guarise ²⁶, L. Guerry ¹¹, M. Guittiere ¹⁴, V. Guliaeva ⁴⁴, P. A. Günther ²², A.-K. Guseinov ⁵⁰, E. Gushchin ⁴⁴, Y. Guz ^6,49,44, T. Gys ⁴⁹, K. Habermann ¹⁸, T. Hadavizadeh ¹, C. Hadjivasiliou ⁶⁷, G. Haefeli ⁵⁰, C. Haen ⁴⁹, M. Hajheidari⁴⁹, G. Hallett ⁵⁷, M. M. Halvorsen ⁴⁹, P. M. Hamilton ⁶⁷, J. Hammerich ⁶¹, Q. Han ⁸, X. Han ^22,49, S. Hansmann-Menzemer ²², L. Hao ⁷, N. Harnew ⁶⁴, T. H. Harris ¹, M. Hartmann ¹⁴, S. Hashmi ⁴⁰, J. He ^7,t, F. Hemmer ⁴⁹, C. Henderson ⁶⁶, R. D. L. Henderson ^1,57, A. M. Hennequin ⁴⁹, K. Hennessy ⁶¹, L. Henry ⁵⁰, J. Herd ⁶², P. Herrero Gascon ²², J. Heuel ¹⁷, A. Hicheur ³, G. Hijano Mendizabal ⁵¹, J. Horswill ⁶³, R. Hou ⁸, Y. Hou ¹¹, N. Howarth ⁶¹, J. Hu ⁷², W. Hu ⁶, X. Hu ^4,p, W. Huang ⁷, W. Hulsbergen ³⁸, R. J. Hunter ⁵⁷, M. Hushchyn ⁴⁴, D. Hutchcroft ⁶¹, M. Idzik ⁴⁰, D. Ilin ⁴⁴, P. Ilten ⁶⁶, A. Inglessi ⁴⁴, A. Iniukhin ⁴⁴, A. Ishteev ⁴⁴, K. Ivshin ⁴⁴, R. Jacobsson ⁴⁹, H. Jage ¹⁷, S. J. Jaimes Elles ^75,49,48, S. Jakobsen ⁴⁹, E. Jans ³⁸, B. K. Jashal ⁴⁸, A. Jawahery ^67,49, V. Jevtic ^19,b, E. Jiang ⁶⁷, X. Jiang ^5,7, Y. Jiang ⁷, Y. J. Jiang ⁶, M. John ⁶⁴, A. John Rubesh Rajan ²³, D. Johnson ⁵⁴, C. R. Jones ⁵⁶, T. P. Jones ⁵⁷, S. Joshi ⁴², B. Jost ⁴⁹, J. Juan Castella ⁵⁶, N. Jurik ⁴⁹, I. Juszczak ⁴¹, D. Kaminaris ⁵⁰, S. Kandybei ⁵², M. Kane ⁵⁹, Y. Kang ^4,p, C. Kar ¹¹, M. Karacson ⁴⁹, D. Karpenkov ⁴⁴, A. Kauniskangas ⁵⁰, J. W. Kautz ⁶⁶, M. K. Kazanecki ⁴¹, F. Keizer ⁴⁹, M. Kenzie ⁵⁶, T. Ketel ³⁸, B. Khanji ⁶⁹, A. Kharisova ⁴⁴, S. Kholodenko ^35,49, G. Khreich ¹⁴, T. Kirn ¹⁷, V. S. Kirsebom ^31,c, O. Kitouni ⁶⁵, S. Klaver ³⁹, N. Kleijne ^35,e, K. Klimaszewski ⁴², M. R. Kmiec ⁴², S. Koliiev ⁵³, L. Kolk ¹⁹, A. Konoplyannikov ⁴⁴, P. Kopciewicz ^40,49, P. Koppenburg ³⁸, M. Korolev ⁴⁴, I. Kostiuk ³⁸, O. Kot ⁵³, S. Kotriakhova , A. Kozachuk ⁴⁴, P. Kravchenko ⁴⁴, L. Kravchuk ⁴⁴, M. Kreps ⁵⁷, P. Krokovny ⁴⁴, W. Krupa ⁶⁹, W. Krzemien ⁴², O. Kshyvanskyi ⁵³, S. Kubis ⁸⁰, M. Kucharczyk ⁴¹, V. Kudryavtsev ⁴⁴, E. Kulikova ⁴⁴, A. Kupsc ⁸², B. Kutsenko ¹³, D. Lacarrere ⁴⁹, P. Laguarta Gonzalez ⁴⁶, A. Lai ³², A. Lampis ³², D. Lancierini ⁵⁶, C. Landesa Gomez ⁴⁷, J. J. Lane ¹, R. Lane ⁵⁵, G. Lanfranchi ²⁸, C. Langenbruch ²², J. Langer ¹⁹, O. Lantwin ⁴⁴, T. Latham ⁵⁷, F. Lazzari ^35,s, C. Lazzeroni ⁵⁴, R. Le Gac ¹³, H. Lee ⁶¹, R. Lefèvre ¹¹, A. Leflat ⁴⁴, S. Legotin ⁴⁴, M. Lehuraux ⁵⁷, E. Lemos Cid ⁴⁹, O. Leroy ¹³, T. Lesiak ⁴¹, E. D. Lesser ⁴⁹, B. Leverington ²², A. Li ^4,p, C. Li ¹³, H. Li ⁷², K. Li ⁸, L. Li ⁶³, M. Li ⁸, P. Li ⁷, P.-R. Li ⁷³, Q. Li ^5,7, S. Li ⁸, T. Li ^5,u, T. Li ⁷², Y. Li ⁸, Y. Li ⁵, Z. Lian ^4,p, X. Liang ⁶⁹, S. Libralon ⁴⁸, C. Lin ⁷, T. Lin ⁵⁸, R. Lindner ⁴⁹, H. Linton ⁶², V. Lisovskyi ⁵⁰, R. Litvinov ^32,49, F. L. Liu ¹, G. Liu ⁷², K. Liu ⁷³, S. Liu ^5,7, W. Liu ⁸, Y. Liu ⁵⁹, Y. Liu ⁷³, Y. L. Liu ⁶², A. Lobo Salvia ⁴⁶, A. Loi ³², T. Long ⁵⁶, J. H. Lopes ³, A. Lopez Huertas ⁴⁶, S. López Soliño ⁴⁷, Q. Lu ¹⁵, C. Lucarelli ²⁷, D. Lucchesi ^33,g, M. Lucio Martinez ⁷⁹, V. Lukashenko ^38,53, Y. Luo ⁶, A. Lupato ^33,v, E. Luppi ^26,f, K. Lynch ²³, X.-R. Lyu ⁷, G. M. Ma ^4,p, S. Maccolini ¹⁹, F. Machefert ¹⁴, F. Maciuc ⁴³, B. Mack ⁶⁹, I. Mackay ⁶⁴, L. M. Mackey ⁶⁹, L. R. Madhan Mohan ⁵⁶, M. J. Madurai ⁵⁴, A. Maevskiy ⁴⁴, D. Magdalinski ³⁸, D. Maisuzenko ⁴⁴, M. W. Majewski⁴⁰, J. J. Malczewski ⁴¹, S. Malde ⁶⁴, L. Malentacca ⁴⁹, A. Malinin ⁴⁴, T. Maltsev ⁴⁴, G. Manca ^32,m, G. Mancinelli ¹³, C. Mancuso ^30,14,k, R. Manera Escalero ⁴⁶, F. M. Manganella ³⁷, D. Manuzzi ²⁵, D. Marangotto ^30,k, J. F. Marchand ¹⁰, R. Marchevski ⁵⁰, U. Marconi ²⁵, E. Mariani ¹⁶, S. Mariani ⁴⁹, C. Marin Benito ^46,49, J. Marks ²², A. M. Marshall ⁵⁵, L. Martel ⁶⁴, G. Martelli ^34,q, G. Martellotti ³⁶, L. Martinazzoli ⁴⁹, M. Martinelli ^31,c, D. Martinez Gomez ⁷⁸, D. Martinez Santos ⁸¹, F. Martinez Vidal ⁴⁸, A. Martorell i Granollers ⁴⁵, A. Massafferri ², R. Matev ⁴⁹, A. Mathad ⁴⁹, V. Matiunin ⁴⁴, C. Matteuzzi ⁶⁹, K. R. Mattioli ¹⁵, A. Mauri ⁶², E. Maurice ¹⁵, J. Mauricio ⁴⁶, P. Mayencourt ⁵⁰, J. Mazorra de Cos ⁴⁸, M. Mazurek ⁴², M. McCann ⁶², L. Mcconnell ²³, T. H. McGrath ⁶³, N. T. McHugh ⁶⁰, A. McNab ⁶³, R. McNulty ²³, B. Meadows ⁶⁶, G. Meier ¹⁹, D. Melnychuk ⁴², F. M. Meng ^4,p, M. Merk ^38,79, A. Merli ⁵⁰, L. Meyer Garcia ⁶⁷, D. Miao ^5,7, H. Miao ⁷, M. Mikhasenko ⁷⁶, D. A. Milanes ⁷⁵, A. Minotti ^31,c, E. Minucci ²⁸, T. Miralles ¹¹, B. Mitreska ¹⁹, D. S. Mitzel ¹⁹, A. Modak ⁵⁸, R. A. Mohammed ⁶⁴, R. D. Moise ¹⁷, S. Mokhnenko ⁴⁴, E. F. Molina Cardenas ⁸³, T. Mombächer ⁴⁹, M. Monk ^57,1, S. Monteil ¹¹, A. Morcillo Gomez ⁴⁷, G. Morello ²⁸, M. J. Morello ^35,e, M. P. Morgenthaler ²², J. Moron ⁴⁰, W. Morren ³⁸, A. B. Morris ⁴⁹, A. G. Morris ¹³, R. Mountain ⁶⁹, H. Mu ^4,p, Z. M. Mu ⁶, E. Muhammad ⁵⁷, F. Muheim ⁵⁹, M. Mulder ⁷⁸, K. Müller ⁵¹, F. Muñoz-Rojas ⁹, R. Murta ⁶², P. Naik ⁶¹, T. Nakada ⁵⁰, R. Nandakumar ⁵⁸, T. Nanut ⁴⁹, I. Nasteva ³, M. Needham ⁵⁹, N. Neri ^30,k, S. Neubert ¹⁸, N. Neufeld ⁴⁹, P. Neustroev⁴⁴, J. Nicolini ^19,14, D. Nicotra ⁷⁹, E. M. Niel ⁴⁹, N. Nikitin ⁴⁴, Q. Niu ⁷³, P. Nogarolli ³, P. Nogga ¹⁸, C. Normand ⁵⁵, J. Novoa Fernandez ⁴⁷, G. Nowak ⁶⁶, C. Nunez ⁸³, H. N. Nur ⁶⁰, A. Oblakowska-Mucha ⁴⁰, V. Obraztsov ⁴⁴, T. Oeser ¹⁷, S. Okamura ^26,f, A. Okhotnikov⁴⁴, O. Okhrimenko ⁵³, R. Oldeman ^32,m, F. Oliva ⁵⁹, M. Olocco ¹⁹, C. J. G. Onderwater ⁷⁹, R. H. O’Neil ⁵⁹, D. Osthues ¹⁹, J. M. Otalora Goicochea ³, P. Owen ⁵¹, A. Oyanguren ⁴⁸, O. Ozcelik ⁵⁹, F. Paciolla ^35,w, A. 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Shears ⁶¹, L. Shekhtman ⁴⁴, Z. Shen ⁶, S. Sheng ^5,7, V. Shevchenko ⁴⁴, B. Shi ⁷, Q. Shi ⁷, Y. Shimizu ¹⁴, E. Shmanin ²⁵, R. Shorkin ⁴⁴, J. D. Shupperd ⁶⁹, R. Silva Coutinho ⁶⁹, G. Simi ^33,g, S. Simone ^24,o, N. Skidmore ⁵⁷, T. Skwarnicki ⁶⁹, M. W. Slater ⁵⁴, J. C. Smallwood ⁶⁴, E. Smith ⁶⁵, K. Smith ⁶⁸, M. Smith ⁶², A. Snoch ³⁸, L. Soares Lavra ⁵⁹, M. D. Sokoloff ⁶⁶, F. J. P. Soler ⁶⁰, A. Solomin ^44,55, A. Solovev ⁴⁴, I. Solovyev ⁴⁴, N. S. Sommerfeld ¹⁸, R. Song ¹, Y. Song ⁵⁰, Y. Song ^4,p, Y. S. Song ⁶, F. L. Souza De Almeida ⁶⁹, B. Souza De Paula ³, E. Spadaro Norella ^29,j, E. Spedicato ²⁵, J. G. Speer ¹⁹, E. Spiridenkov⁴⁴, P. Spradlin ⁶⁰, V. Sriskaran ⁴⁹, F. Stagni ⁴⁹, M. Stahl ⁴⁹, S. Stahl ⁴⁹, S. Stanislaus ⁶⁴, E. N. Stein ⁴⁹, O. Steinkamp ⁵¹, O. Stenyakin⁴⁴, H. Stevens ¹⁹, D. Strekalina ⁴⁴, Y. Su ⁷, F. Suljik ⁶⁴, J. Sun ³², L. Sun ⁷⁴, D. Sundfeld ², W. Sutcliffe ⁵¹, P. N. Swallow ⁵⁴, K. Swientek ⁴⁰, F. Swystun ⁵⁶, A. Szabelski ⁴², T. Szumlak ⁴⁰, Y. Tan ^4,p, Y. Tang ⁷⁴, M. D. 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Yin ⁷, C. Y. Yu ⁶, J. Yu ⁷¹, X. Yuan ⁵, Y Yuan ^5,7, E. Zaffaroni ⁵⁰, M. Zavertyaev ²¹, M. Zdybal ⁴¹, F. Zenesini ^25,i, C. Zeng ^5,7, M. Zeng ^4,p, C. Zhang ⁶, D. Zhang ⁸, J. Zhang ⁷, L. Zhang ^4,p, S. Zhang ⁷¹, S. Zhang ⁶⁴, Y. Zhang ⁶, Y. Z. Zhang ^4,p, Y. Zhao ²², A. Zharkova ⁴⁴, A. Zhelezov ²², S. Z. Zheng ⁶, X. Z. Zheng ^4,p, Y. Zheng ⁷, T. Zhou ⁶, X. Zhou ⁸, Y. Zhou ⁷, V. Zhovkovska ⁵⁷, L. Z. Zhu ⁷, X. Zhu ^4,p, X. Zhu ⁸, V. Zhukov ¹⁷, J. Zhuo ⁴⁸, Q. Zou ^5,7, D. Zuliani ^33,g, and G. Zunica ⁵⁰ (LHCb Collaboration)

¹School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
²Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas (CBPF), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
³Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
⁴Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
⁵Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), Beijing, China
⁶School of Physics State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Peking University, Beijing, China
⁷University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
⁸Institute of Particle Physics, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
⁹Consejo Nacional de Rectores (CONARE), San Jose, Costa Rica
¹⁰Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, IN2P3-LAPP, Annecy, France
¹¹Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS/IN2P3, LPC, Clermont-Ferrand, France
¹²Université Paris-Saclay, Centre d’Etudes de Saclay (CEA), IRFU, Saclay, France, Gif-Sur-Yvette, France
¹³Aix Marseille Université, CNRS/IN2P3, CPPM, Marseille, France
¹⁴Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS/IN2P3, IJCLab, Orsay, France
¹⁵Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet, CNRS/IN2P3, Ecole Polytechnique, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Palaiseau, France
¹⁶LPNHE, Sorbonne Université, Paris Diderot Sorbonne Paris Cité, CNRS/IN2P3, Paris, France
¹⁷I. Physikalisches Institut, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
¹⁸Universität Bonn—Helmholtz-Institut für Strahlen und Kernphysik, Bonn, Germany
¹⁹Fakultät Physik, Technische Universität Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
²⁰Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
²¹Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik (MPIK), Heidelberg, Germany
²²Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
²³School of Physics, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
²⁴INFN Sezione di Bari, Bari, Italy
²⁵INFN Sezione di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
²⁶INFN Sezione di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
²⁷INFN Sezione di Firenze, Firenze, Italy
²⁸INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Frascati, Italy
²⁹INFN Sezione di Genova, Genova, Italy
³⁰INFN Sezione di Milano, Milano, Italy
³¹INFN Sezione di Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
³²INFN Sezione di Cagliari, Monserrato, Italy
³³INFN Sezione di Padova, Padova, Italy
³⁴INFN Sezione di Perugia, Perugia, Italy
³⁵INFN Sezione di Pisa, Pisa, Italy
³⁶INFN Sezione di Roma La Sapienza, Roma, Italy
³⁷INFN Sezione di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy
³⁸Nikhef National Institute for Subatomic Physics, Amsterdam, Netherlands
³⁹Nikhef National Institute for Subatomic Physics and VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
⁴⁰AGH—University of Krakow, Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, Kraków, Poland
⁴¹Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland
⁴²National Center for Nuclear Research (NCBJ), Warsaw, Poland
⁴³Horia Hulubei National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania
⁴⁴Authors affiliated with an institute formerly covered by a cooperation agreement with CERN
⁴⁵DS4DS, La Salle, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona, Spain
⁴⁶ICCUB, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
⁴⁷Instituto Galego de Física de Altas Enerxías (IGFAE), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
⁴⁸Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular, Centro Mixto Universidad de Valencia—CSIC, Valencia, Spain
⁴⁹European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland
⁵⁰Institute of Physics, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
⁵¹Physik-Institut, Universität Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
⁵²NSC Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology (NSC KIPT), Kharkiv, Ukraine
⁵³Institute for Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences (KINR), Kyiv, Ukraine
⁵⁴School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
⁵⁵H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
⁵⁶Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
⁵⁷Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom
⁵⁸STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, United Kingdom
⁵⁹School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
⁶⁰School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
⁶¹Oliver Lodge Laboratory, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
⁶²Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
⁶³Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
⁶⁴Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
⁶⁵Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
⁶⁶University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
⁶⁷University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
⁶⁸Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
⁶⁹Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA
⁷⁰Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (associated with Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
⁷¹School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha City, China (associated with Institute of Particle Physics, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei, China)
⁷²Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nuclear Science, Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Quantum Matter, Institute of Quantum Matter, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China (associated with Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China)
⁷³Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China (associated with Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), Beijing, China)
⁷⁴School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China (associated with Department of Engineering Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China)
⁷⁵Departamento de Fisica, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia (associated with LPNHE, Sorbonne Université, Paris Diderot Sorbonne Paris Cité, CNRS/IN2P3, Paris, France)
⁷⁶Ruhr Universitaet Bochum, Fakultaet für Physik und Astronomie, Bochum, Germany (associated with Fakultät Physik, Technische Universität Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany)
⁷⁷Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary (associated with European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva, Switzerland)
⁷⁸Van Swinderen Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands (associated with Nikhef National Institute for Subatomic Physics, Amsterdam, Netherlands)
⁷⁹Universiteit Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands (associated with Nikhef National Institute for Subatomic Physics, Amsterdam, Netherlands)
⁸⁰Tadeusz Kosciuszko Cracow University of Technology, Cracow, Poland (associated with Henryk Niewodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland)
⁸¹Universidade da Coruña, A Coruña, Spain (associated with DS4DS, La Salle, Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona, Spain)
⁸²Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden (associated with School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom)
⁸³University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA (associated with Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, USA)

^*Full author list given at the end of the Letter.
^aDeceased.
^bAlso at Lamarr Institute for Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Dortmund, Germany.
^cAlso at Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy.
^dAlso at Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy.
^eAlso at Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy.
^fAlso at Università di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy.
^gAlso at Università di Padova, Padova, Italy.
^hAlso at Facultad de Ciencias Fisicas, Madrid, Spain.
ⁱAlso at Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
^jAlso at Università di Genova, Genova, Italy.
^kAlso at Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy.
^lAlso at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
^mAlso at Università di Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.
ⁿAlso at Centro Federal de Educacão Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
^oAlso at Università di Bari, Bari, Italy.
^pAlso at Center for High Energy Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
^qAlso at Università di Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
^rAlso at LIP6, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.
^sAlso at Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
^tAlso at Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, UCAS, Hangzhou, China.
^uAlso at School of Physics and Electronics, Henan University, Kaifeng, China.
^vAlso at Università di Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy.
^wAlso at Università di Siena, Siena, Italy.
^xAlso at Department of Physics/Division of Particle Physics, Lund, Sweden.
^yAlso at Università della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy.
^zAlso at Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Spain.
^aaAlso at Università di Urbino, Urbino, Italy.

PDF

Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 021802 – Published 8 July, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/rj9h-n4w1

Abstract

The first evidence for the decay $B^{-} \to D^{* * 0} τ^{-} {\bar{ν}}_{τ}$ is obtained using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $9 {fb}^{- 1}$ , at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV. Here, the $D^{* * 0}$ meson represents any of the three excited charm mesons $D_{1} (2420)^{0}$ , $D_{2}^{*} (2460)^{0}$ , and $D_{1}^{'} (2400)^{0}$ . The $B^{-} \to D^{* * 0} τ^{-} {\bar{ν}}_{τ}$ signal is measured with a significance of $3.5 σ$ , including systematic uncertainties. The combined branching fraction $B (B^{-} \to D_{1, 2}^{* * 0} τ^{-} {\bar{ν}}_{τ}) \times B (D_{1, 2}^{* * 0} \to D^{* +} π^{-})$ , where $D_{1, 2}^{* * 0}$ denotes both $D_{1} (2420)^{0}$ and $D_{2}^{*} (2460)^{0}$ contributions, is measured to be $[0.051 \pm 0.013 (stat) \pm 0.006 (syst) \pm 0.009 (ext)] %$ , where the last uncertainty reflects that of the branching fraction of the normalization channel $B^{-} \to D_{1, 2}^{* * 0} {D_{s}^{-}}^{(*)}$ . The ratio between the tauonic and muonic semileptonic $B$ decays, with the latter taken from world average values, is also determined and found to be $R (D_{1, 2}^{* * 0}) = 0.13 \pm 0.03 (stat) \pm 0.01 (syst) \pm 0.02 (ext)$ .

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

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https://cds.cern.ch/record/2922701

Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 021802– Published 8 July, 2025

Vol. 135, Iss. 2 — 11 July 2025

Received 31 January 2025
Accepted 27 May 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/rj9h-n4w1

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP³.

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Evidence for $B^{-} \to D^{* * 0} τ^{-} \bar{ν_{τ}}$ Decays

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Evidence for B−→D**0τ−ντ¯ Decays

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Evidence for $B^{-} \to D^{* * 0} τ^{-} \bar{ν_{τ}}$ Decays