arXiv subjects

J. Cochran

Publications and source records attributed to J. Cochran.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Observation of the decay $B^0 \to J/ψω$ at Belle II

We measure the branching fraction of the decay $B^0 \to J/ψω$ using data collected with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB collider. The data contain $(387 \pm 6) \times 10^6$ $B\overline{B}$ meson pairs produced in energy-asymmetric $e^+e^-$ collisions at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance. The measured branching fraction $\mathcal{B}(B^0 \to J/ψω) = \left( 2.16 \pm 0.30 \pm 0.14 \right) \times 10^{-5}$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic, is more precise than previous results and constitutes the first observation of the decay with a significance of $6.5$ standard deviations.

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arXiv2025

Measurement of the inclusive branching fractions for $B_s^0$ decays into $D$ mesons via hadronic tagging

We report measurements of the absolute branching fractions $\mathcal{B}(B_s^0 \to D_s^{\pm} X)$, $\mathcal{B}(B_s^0 \to D^0/\bar{D}^0 X)$, and $\mathcal{B}(B_s^0 \to D^{\pm} X)$, where the latter is measured for the first time. The results are based on a 121.4\,fb$^{-1}$ data sample collected at the $Υ(10860)$ resonance by the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+ e^-$ collider. We reconstruct one $B_s^0$ meson in $e^+e^- \to Υ(10860) \to B_s^{*} \bar{B}_s^{*}$ events and measure yields of $D_s^+$, $D^0$, and $D^+$ mesons in the rest of the event. We obtain $\mathcal{B}(B_s^0 \to D_s^{\pm} X) = (68.6 \pm 7.2 \pm 4.0)\%$, $\mathcal{B}(B_s^0 \to D^0/\bar{D}^0 X) = (21.5 \pm 6.1 \pm 1.8)\%$, and $\mathcal{B}(B_s^0 \to D^{\pm} X) = (12.6 \pm 4.6 \pm 1.3)\%$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. Averaging with previous Belle measurements gives $\mathcal{B}(B_s^0 \to D_s^{\pm} X) = (63.4 \pm 4.5 \pm 2.2)\%$ and $\mathcal{B}(B_s^0 \to D^0/\bar{D}^0 X) = (23.9 \pm 4.1 \pm 1.8)\%$. For the $B_s^0$ production fraction at the $Υ(10860)$, we find $f_s = (21.4^{+1.5}_{-1.7})\%$.

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arXiv2025

Search for $C\!P$ violation in $D^+_{(s)}\to{}K_{S}^{0}K^{-}π^{+}π^{+}$ decays using triple and quadruple products

We perform the first search for $C\!P$ violation in ${D_{(s)}^{+}\to{}K_{S}^{0}K^{-}π^{+}π^{+}}$ decays. We use a combined data set from the Belle and Belle II experiments, which study $e^+e^-$ collisions at center-of-mass energies at or near the $Υ(4S)$ resonance. We use 980 fb$^{-1}$ of data from Belle and 428 fb$^{-1}$ of data from Belle~II. We measure six $C\!P$-violating asymmetries that are based on triple products and quadruple products of the momenta of final-state particles, and also the particles' helicity angles. We obtain a precision at the level of 0.5% for $D^+\to{}K_{S}^{0}K^{-}π^{+}π^{+}$ decays, and better than 0.3% for $D^+_{s}\to{}K_{S}^{0}K^{-}π^{+}π^{+}$ decays. No evidence of $C\!P$ violation is found. Our results for the triple-product asymmetries are the most precise to date for singly-Cabibbo-suppressed $D^+$ decays. Our results for the other asymmetries are the first such measurements performed for charm decays.

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arXiv2025

Measurement of $B^+\toτ^+ν_τ$ branching fraction with a hadronic tagging method at Belle II

We present a measurement of the branching fraction of $B^+\toτ^+ν_τ$ decays using $(387\pm6)\times 10^6$ $Υ(4S)$ collected between 2019 and 2022 with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB $e^+e^-$ collider. We reconstruct the accompanying $B^-$ meson using the hadronic tagging method, while $B^+\toτ^+ν_τ$ candidates are identified in the recoil. We find evidence for $B^+\toτ^+ν_τ$ decays at 3.0 standard deviations, including systematic uncertainties. The measured branching fraction is $\mathcal{B}(B^+\toτ^+ν_τ) = [1.24 \pm 0.41 (\text{stat.}) \pm 0.19 (\text{syst.})] \times 10^{-4}$.

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arXiv2025

Design and Commissioning of Readout Electronics for a $K_L^0$ and $μ$ Detector at the Belle II Experiment

The K-long and muon detector (KLM) constitutes the outer-most volume of the Belle II spectrometer at the interaction region of the SuperKEKB collider in Tsukuba, Japan. The KLM detector was partially upgraded since the Belle experiment by replacing many of its resistive-plate chambers with scintillators containing wavelength-shifting fibers and instrumenting it with silicon photomultipliers. We describe the readout electronics, firmware, and software created to control and acquire data from the scintillators and resistive-plate chambers.

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arXiv2025

Observation of time-dependent $CP$ violation and measurement of the branching fraction of $B^0 \to J/ψπ^0$ decays

We present a measurement of the branching fraction and time-dependent charge-parity ($CP$) decay-rate asymmetries in $B^0 \to J/ψπ^0$ decays. The data sample was collected with the Belle~II detector at the SuperKEKB asymmetric $e^+e^-$ collider in 2019-2022 and contains $(387\pm 6)\times 10^6$ $B\overline{B}$ meson pairs from $Υ(4S)$ decays. We reconstruct $392\pm 24$ signal decays and fit the $CP$ parameters from the distribution of the proper-decay-time difference of the two $B$ mesons. We measure the branching fraction to be $B(B^0 \to J/ψπ^0)=(2.00 \pm 0.12 \pm 0.09)\times 10^{-5}$ and the direct and mixing-induced $CP$ asymmetries to be $C_{CP}=0.13 \pm 0.12 \pm 0.03$ and $S_{CP}=-0.88 \pm 0.17 \pm 0.03$, respectively, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. We observe mixing-induced $CP$ violation with a significance of $5.0$ standard deviations for the first time in this mode.

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arXiv2024

Search for lepton flavor-violating decay modes $B^0\to K_S^0τ^\pm\ell^\mp~(\ell=μ, e)$ with hadronic $B$-tagging at Belle and Belle II

We present the first search for the lepton flavor-violating decay modes $B^0 \rightarrow K_S^0 τ^\pm \ell^\mp~(\ell=μ, e)$ using the 711 fb$^{-1}$ and 365 fb$^{-1}$ data samples recorded by the Belle and Belle II detectors, respectively. We use a hadronic $B$-tagging technique, and search for the signal decay in the system recoiling against the fully reconstructed $B$ meson. We find no evidence for $B^0 \rightarrow K_S^0 τ^\pm \ell^\mp$ decays and set 90\% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions in the range of $[0.8,\,3.6]\times10^{-5}$.

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arXiv2024

Measurement of the branching fraction and $\it CP$-violating asymmetry of the decay $B^{0} \rightarrow π^{0} π^{0}$ using $387$ million bottom-antibottom meson pairs in Belle II data

We measure the branching fraction and $\it CP$-violating flavor-dependent rate asymmetry of $B^{0} \to π^{0} π^{0}$ decays reconstructed using the Belle II detector in an electron-positron collision sample containing $387 \times 10^{6}$ $B\overline{B}$ pairs. Using an optimized event selection, we find $126\pm 20$ signal decays in a fit to background-discriminating and flavor-sensitive distributions. The resulting branching fraction is $(1.25 \pm 0.23)\times 10^{-6}$ and the $\it CP$-violating asymmetry is $0.03 \pm 0.30$.

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arXiv2024

Search for lepton-flavor-violating $τ^- \to μ^-μ^+μ^-$ decays at Belle II

We present the result of a search for the charged-lepton-flavor violating decay $τ^- \to μ^-μ^+μ^-$ using a $424fb^{-1}$ sample of data recorded by the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB $e^{-}e^{+}$ collider. The selection of $e^{-}e^{+}\toτ^+τ^-$ events is based on an inclusive reconstruction of the non-signal tau decay, and on a boosted decision tree to suppress background. We observe one signal candidate, which is compatible with the expectation from background processes. We set a $90\%$ confidence level upper limit of $1.9 \times 10^{-8}$ on the branching fraction of the \taumu decay, which is the most stringent bound to date.

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arXiv2024

Measurement of the energy dependence of the $e^+e^- \to B\bar{B}$, $B\bar{B}{}^$, and $B^\bar{B}{}^*$ cross sections at Belle~II

We report measurements of the $e^+e^- \to B\bar{B}$, $B\bar{B}{}^*$, and $B^*\bar{B}{}^*$ cross sections at four energies, 10653, 10701, 10746 and 10805 MeV, using data collected by the Belle~II experiment. We reconstruct one $B$ meson in a large number of hadronic final states and use its momentum to identify the production process. In the first $2-5$ MeV above $B^*\bar{B}{}^*$ threshold, the $e^+e^- \to B^*\bar{B}{}^*$ cross section increases rapidly. This may indicate the presence of a pole close to the threshold.

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arXiv2024

Search for a long-lived spin-0 mediator in $b\to s$ transitions at the Belle II experiment

Additional spin-0 particles appear in many extensions of the standard model. We search for long-lived spin-0 particles $S$ in $B$-meson decays mediated by a $b\to s$ quark transition in $e^+e^-$ collisions at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance at the Belle II experiment. Based on a sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $189 \mathrm{\,fb}^{-1}$, we observe no evidence for signal. We set model-independent upper limits on the product of branching fractions $\mathrm{Br}(B^0\to K^*(892)^0(\to K^+π^-)S)\times \mathrm{Br}(S\to x^+x^-)$ and $\mathrm{Br}(B^+\to K^+S)\times \mathrm{Br}(S\to x^+x^-)$, where $x^+x^-$ indicates $e^+e^-, μ^+μ^-, π^+π^-$, or $K^+K^-$, as functions of $S$ mass and lifetime at the level of $10^{-7}$.

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arXiv2024

Measurement of the integrated luminosity of data samples collected during 2019-2022 by the Belle II experiment

A series of data samples was collected with the Belle~II detector at the SuperKEKB collider from March 2019 to June 2022. We determine the integrated luminosities of these data samples using three distinct methodologies involving Bhabha ($e^+e^- \to e^+e^-(nγ)$), digamma ($e^+e^- \to γγ(nγ)$), and dimuon ($e^+e^- \to μ^+ μ^- (nγ)$) events. The total integrated luminosity obtained with Bhabha, digamma, and dimuon events is ({426.88} $\pm$ 0.03 $\pm$ {2.61})~fb$^{-1}$, ({429.28} $\pm$ 0.03 $\pm$ {2.62})~fb$^{-1}$, and ({423.99} $\pm$ 0.04 $\pm$ {3.83})~fb$^{-1}$, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. The resulting total integrated luminosity obtained from the combination of the three methods is ({427.87 $\pm$ 2.01})~fb$^{-1}$.

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arXiv2024

Search for Rare $b \to d\ell^+\ell^-$ Transitions at Belle

We present the results of a search for the $b \to d\ell^+\ell^-$ flavor-changing neutral-current rare decays $B^{+, 0} \to (η, ω, π^{+,0}, ρ^{+, 0}) e^+e^-$ and $B^{+, 0} \to (η, ω, π^{0}, ρ^{+}) μ^+μ^-$ using a $711$ fb$^{-1}$ data sample that contains $772 \times 10^{6}$ $B\overline{B}$ events. The data were collected at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider. We find no evidence for signal and set upper limits on branching fractions at the $90\%$ confidence level in the range $(3.8 - 47) \times 10^{-8}$ depending on the decay channel. The obtained limits are the world's best results. This is the first search for the channels $B^{+, 0} \to (ω, ρ^{+,0}) e^+e^-$ and $B^{+, 0} \to (ω, ρ^{+})μ^+μ^-$.

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arXiv2024

New graph-neural-network flavor tagger for Belle II and measurement of $\sin2ϕ_1$ in $B^0 \to J/ψK^0_\text{S}$ decays

We present GFlaT, a new algorithm that uses a graph-neural-network to determine the flavor of neutral $B$ mesons produced in $Υ(4S)$ decays. It improves previous algorithms by using the information from all charged final-state particles and the relations between them. We evaluate its performance using $B$ decays to flavor-specific hadronic final states reconstructed in a 362 $\text{fb}^{-1}$ sample of electron-positron collisions collected at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB collider. We achieve an effective tagging efficiency of $(37.40 \pm 0.43 \pm 0.36) \%$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic, which is $18\%$ better than the previous Belle II algorithm. Demonstrating the algorithm, we use $B^{0}\to J/ψK^0_\text{S}$ decays to measure the mixing-induced and direct $CP$ violation parameters, $S = (0.724 \pm 0.035 \pm 0.009)$ and $C = (-0.035 \pm 0.026 \pm 0.029)$.

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arXiv2024

Search for the baryon number and lepton number violating decays $τ^-\to Λπ^-$ and $τ^-\to \barΛπ^-$ at Belle II

We present a search for the baryon number $B$ and lepton number $L$ violating decays $τ^- \rightarrow Λπ^-$ and $τ^- \rightarrow \barΛ π^-$ produced from the $e^+e^-\to τ^+τ^-$ process, using a 364 fb$^{-1}$ data sample collected by the Belle~II experiment at the SuperKEKB collider. No evidence of signal is found in either decay mode, which have $|Δ(B-L)|$ equal to $2$ and $0$, respectively. Upper limits at 90\% credibility level on the branching fractions of $τ^- \rightarrow Λπ^-$ and $τ^- \rightarrow \barΛπ^-$ are determined to be $4.7 \times 10^{-8}$ and $4.3 \times 10^{-8}$, respectively.

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arXiv2024

Evidence for $B^{+}\to K^{+}ν\barν$ decays

We search for the rare decay $B^{+}\rightarrow K^{+}ν\barν$ in a $362\ \rm{fb}^{-1}$ sample of electron-positron collisions at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance collected with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB collider. We use the inclusive properties of the accompanying $B$ meson in $Υ(4S) \to B\kern 0.18em\overline{\kern -0.18em B}{}$ events to suppress background from other decays of the signal $B$ candidate and light-quark pair production. We validate the measurement with an auxiliary analysis based on a conventional hadronic reconstruction of the accompanying $B$ meson. For background suppression, we exploit distinct signal features using machine learning methods tuned with simulated data. The signal-reconstruction efficiency and background suppression are validated through various control channels. The branching fraction is extracted in a maximum likelihood fit. Our inclusive and hadronic analyses yield consistent results for the $B^{+}\rightarrow K^{+}ν\barν$ branching fraction of $\left[2.7\pm 0.5(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.5(\mathrm{syst})\right] \times 10^{-5}$ and $\left[1.1^{+0.9}_{-0.8}(\mathrm{stat}){}^{+0.8}_{-0.5}(\mathrm{syst})\right] \times 10^{-5}$, respectively. Combining the results, we determine the branching fraction of the decay $B^{+}\rightarrow K^{+}ν\barν$ to be $\left[2.3 \pm 0.5(\mathrm{stat})^{+0.5}_{-0.4}(\mathrm{syst})\right]\times 10^{-5}$, providing the first evidence for this decay at $3.5$ standard deviations. The combined result is $2.7$ standard deviations above the standard model expectation.

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arXiv2024

Measurement of $CP$ asymmetries in $B^0 \rightarrow K^0_S K^0_S K^0_S$ decays at Belle II

We report a measurement of decay-time dependent charge-parity ($CP$) asymmetries in $B^0 \rightarrow K^0_S K^0_S K^0_S$ decays. We use $387 \times 10^6 B\bar{B}$ pairs collected at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB asymmetric-energy electron-positron collider. We reconstruct 220 signal events and extract the $CP$-violating parameters $S$ and $C$ from a fit to the distribution of the decay-time difference between the two $B$ mesons. The resulting confidence region is consistent with previous measurements in $B^0 \rightarrow K^0_S K^0_S K^0_S$ and $B^0 \rightarrow (c\bar{c})K^0$ decays, and with predictions based on the standard model.

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arXiv2024

A test of lepton flavor universality with a measurement of $R(D^{*})$ using hadronic $B$ tagging at the Belle II experiment

The ratio of branching fractions $R(D^{*}) = \mathcal{B}(\overline{B} \rightarrow D^{*} τ^{-} \overlineν_τ)$/$\mathcal{B} (\overline{B} \rightarrow D^{*} \ell^{-} \overlineν_{\ell})$, where $\ell$ is an electron or muon, is measured using a Belle~II data sample with an integrated luminosity of $189~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ at the SuperKEKB asymmetric-energy $e^{+} e^{-}$ collider. Data is collected at the $Υ(\mathrm{4S})$ resonance, and one $B$ meson in the $Υ(\mathrm{4S})\rightarrow B\overline{B}$ decay is fully reconstructed in hadronic decay modes. The accompanying signal $B$ meson is reconstructed as $\overline{B}\rightarrow D^{*} τ^{-}\overlineν_τ$ using leptonic $τ$ decays. The normalization decay, $\overline{B}\rightarrow D^{*} \ell^{-} \overlineν_{\ell}$, where $\ell$ is an electron or muon, produces the same observable final state particles. The ratio of branching fractions is extracted in a simultaneous fit to two signal-discriminating variables in both channels and yields $R(D^{*}) = 0.262~_{-0.039}^{+0.041}(\mathrm{stat})~_{-0.032}^{+0.035}(\mathrm{syst})$. This result is consistent with the current world average and with standard model predictions.

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