arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L. Cao.
We report on a measurement of the $Ω_c^0$ lifetime using $Ω_c^0 \to Ω^-π^+$ decays reconstructed in $e^+e^-\to c\bar{c}$ data collected by the Belle II experiment and corresponding to $207~{\rm fb^{-1}}$ of integrated luminosity. The result, $\rmτ(Ω_c^0)=243\pm48( stat)\pm11(syst)~fs$, agrees with recent measurements indicating that the $Ω_c^0$ is not the shortest-lived weakly decaying charmed baryon.
We measure the $B^0$ lifetime and flavor-oscillation frequency using $B^0\to D^{(*)-}π^+$ decays collected by the Belle II experiment in asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collisions produced by the SuperKEKB collider operating at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance. We fit the decay-time distribution of signal decays, where the initial flavor is determined by identifying the flavor of the other $B$ meson in the event. The results, based on $33000$ signal decays reconstructed in a data sample corresponding to ${190}\text{fb}^{-1}$, are $τ_{B^0} = {1.499}\pm{0.013}\pm{0.008}\;\text{ps}$, $Δm_d = {0.516}\pm{0.008}\pm{0.005}\;\text{ps}^{-1}$, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. These results are consistent with the world-average values.
We study the processes $e^+e^-\toωχ_{bJ}(1P)$ ($J$ = 0, 1, or 2) using samples at center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}$ = 10.701, 10.745, and 10.805 GeV, corresponding to 1.6, 9.8, and 4.7 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, respectively. These data were collected with the Belle II detector during special operations of the SuperKEKB collider above the $Υ(4S)$ resonance. We report the first observation of $ωχ_{bJ}(1P)$ signals at $\sqrt{s}$ = 10.745 GeV. By combining Belle II data with Belle results at $\sqrt{s}$ = 10.867 GeV, we find energy dependencies of the Born cross sections for $e^+e^-\to ωχ_{b1,b2}(1P)$ to be consistent with the shape of the $Υ(10753)$ state. These data indicate that the internal structures of the $Υ(10753)$ and $Υ(10860)$ states may differ. Including data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 10.653 GeV, we also search for the bottomonium equivalent of the $X(3872)$ state decaying into $ωΥ(1S)$. No significant signal is observed for masses between 10.45 and 10.65 GeV/$c^2$.
We present a measurement of the differential shapes of exclusive $B\to D^* \ell \barν_\ell$ ($B = B^-, \bar{B}^0 $ and $\ell = e, μ$) decays with hadronic tag-side reconstruction for the full Belle data set of $711\,\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ integrated luminosity. We extract the Caprini-Lellouch-Neubert (CLN) and Boyd-Grinstein-Lebed (BGL) form factor parameters and use an external input for the absolute branching fractions to determine the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element and find $|V_{cb}|_\mathrm{CLN} = (40.1\pm0.9)\times 10^{-3}$ and $|V_{cb}|_\mathrm{BGL} = (40.6\pm 0.9)\times 10^{-3}$ with the zero-recoil lattice QCD point $\mathcal{F}(1) = 0.906 \pm 0.013$. We also perform a study of the impact of preliminary beyond zero-recoil lattice QCD calculations on the $|V_{cb}|$ determinations. Additionally, we present the lepton flavor universality ratio $R_{eμ} = \mathcal{B}(B \to D^* e \barν_e) / \mathcal{B}(B \to D^* μ\barν_μ) = 0.990 \pm 0.021 \pm 0.023$, the electron and muon forward-backward asymmetry and their difference $ΔA_{FB}=0.022\pm0.026\pm 0.007$, and the electron and muon $D^*$ longitudinal polarization fraction and their difference $ΔF_L^{D^*} = 0.034 \pm 0.024 \pm 0.007$. The uncertainties quoted correspond to the statistical and systematic uncertainties, respectively.
We present a measurement of the $B^{0} \rightarrow D^{*-} \ell^{+} ν_{\ell}$ ($\ell=e,μ$) branching ratio and of the CKM parameter $|V_{cb}|$ using signal decays accompanied by a fully reconstructed $B$ meson. The Belle II data set of electron-positron collisions at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance, corresponding to 189.3$\,$fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, is analyzed. With the Caprini-Lellouch-Neubert form factor parameterization, the parameters $η_{\rm EW} F(1) |V_{cb}|$ and $ρ^{2}$ are extracted, where $η_{\rm EW}$ is an electroweak correction, $F(1)$ is a normalization factor and $ρ^{2}$ is a form factor shape parameter. We reconstruct 516 signal decays and thereby obtain $\mathcal{B} (B^{0} \rightarrow D^{*-} \ell^{+} ν_{\ell} ) = \left(5.27 \pm 0.22~\rm{\left(stat\right)} \pm 0.38~\rm{\left(syst\right)}\right) \%$, $η_{EW} F(1) |V_{cb}| \times 10^{3} = 34.6 \pm 1.8~\rm{\left(stat\right)} \pm 1.7~\rm{\left(syst\right)}$, and $ρ^{2} = 0.94 \pm 0.18~\rm{\left(stat\right)} \pm 0.11~\rm{\left(syst\right)}$.
This White Paper, prepared for the Fundamental Symmetries, Neutrons, and Neutrinos Town Meeting related to the 2023 Nuclear Physics Long Range Plan, makes the case for double beta decay as a critical component of the future nuclear physics program. The major experimental collaborations and many theorists have endorsed this white paper.
We report measurements of the ratios of branching fractions for $B \to \bar{D}^{(*)}π\ell^+ν_\ell$ and $B \to \bar{D}^{(*)}π^+π^-\ell^+ν_\ell$ relative to $B \to \bar{D}^*\ell^+ν_\ell$ decays with $\ell = e, μ$. These results are obtained from a data sample that contains $772 \times 10^6 B\bar{B}$ pairs collected near the $Υ(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy $e^+e^-$ collider. Fully reconstructing both $B$ mesons in the event, we obtain \begin{align*} \frac{B(B^0 \to \bar{D}^0π^-\ell^+ν_\ell)}{B(B^0 \to D^{*-}\ell^+ν_\ell)} &= (7.24\pm0.36\pm0.12)\%\ ,\\ \frac{B(B^+ \to D^-π^+\ell^+ν_\ell)}{B(B^+ \to \bar{D}^{*0}\ell^+ν_\ell)} &= (6.78\pm0.24\pm0.15)\%\ ,\\ \frac{B(B^0 \to \bar{D}^{*0}π^-\ell^+ν_\ell)}{B(B^0 \to D^{*-}\ell^+ν_\ell)} &= (11.10\pm0.48\pm0.20)\%\ ,\\ \frac{B(B^+ \to D^{*-}π^+\ell^+ν_\ell)}{B(B^+ \to \bar{D}^{*0}\ell^+ν_\ell)} &= (9.50\pm0.33\pm0.27)\%\ ,\\ \frac{B(B^0 \to D^-π^+π^-\ell^+ν_\ell)}{B(B^0 \to D^{*-}\ell^+ν_\ell)} &= (2.91\pm0.37\pm0.25)\%\ ,\\ \frac{B(B^+ \to \bar{D}^0π^+π^-\ell^+ν_\ell)}{B(B^+ \to \bar{D}^{*0}\ell^+ν_\ell)} &= (3.10\pm0.26\pm0.21)\%\ ,\\ \frac{B(B^0 \to D^{*-}π^+π^-\ell^+ν_\ell)}{B(B^0 \to D^{*-}\ell^+ν_\ell)} &= (1.03\pm0.43\pm0.18)\%\ ,\\ \frac{B(B^+ \to \bar{D}^{*0}π^+π^-\ell^+ν_\ell)}{B(B^+ \to \bar{D}^{*0}\ell^+ν_\ell)} &= (1.25\pm0.27\pm0.15)\%\ , \end{align*} where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The invariant mass spectra of the $Dπ$, $D^*π$, and $Dππ$ systems are studied. Branching fraction products are extracted, among them the first observations of $B(B^0 \to D_1^-\ell^+ν_\ell) \times B(D_1^- \to D^-π^+π^-) = (0.102\pm0.013\pm0.009)\%$ and $B(B^+ \to \bar{D}_1^0\ell^+ν_\ell) \times B(\bar{D}_1^0 \to \bar{D}^0π^+π^-) = (0.105\pm0.011\pm0.008)\%$.
We present a search for the lepton-flavour-violating decays $B^+ \to K^+ τ^\pm \ell^\mp$, with $\ell = (e, μ)$, using the full data sample of $772 \times 10^6$ $B\overline{B}$ pairs recorded by the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+ e^-$ collider. We use events in which one $B$ meson is fully reconstructed in a hadronic decay mode. We find no evidence for $B^\pm \to K^\pm τ\ell$ decays and set upper limits on their branching fractions at the 90% confidence level in the $(1$-$3) \times 10^{-5}$ range. The obtained limits are the world's best results.
We present results on the semileptonic decays $B^0 \to ρ^- \ell^+ ν_\ell$ and $B^+ \to ρ^0 \ell^+ ν_\ell$ in a sample corresponding to 189.9/fb of Belle II data at the SuperKEKB $e^- e^+$ collider. Signal decays are identified using full reconstruction of the recoil $B$ meson in hadronic final states. We determine the total branching fractions via fits to the distributions of the square of the "missing" mass in the event and the dipion mass in the signal candidate and find ${\mathcal{B}(B^0\toρ^-\ell^+ ν_\ell) = (4.12 \pm 0.64(\mathrm{stat}) \pm 1.16(\mathrm{syst})) \times 10^{-4}}$ and ${\mathcal{B}({B^+\toρ^0\ell^+ν_\ell}) = (1.77 \pm 0.23 (\mathrm{stat}) \pm 0.36 (\mathrm{syst})) \times 10^{-4}}$ where the dominant systematic uncertainty comes from modeling the nonresonant $B\to (ππ)\ell^+ν_\ell$ contribution.
Liquid xenon time projection chambers are promising detectors to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0$νββ$), due to their response uniformity, monolithic sensitive volume, scalability to large target masses, and suitability for extremely low background operations. The nEXO collaboration has designed a tonne-scale time projection chamber that aims to search for 0$νββ$ of \ce{^{136}Xe} with projected half-life sensitivity of $1.35\times 10^{28}$~yr. To reach this sensitivity, the design goal for nEXO is $\leq$1\% energy resolution at the decay $Q$-value ($2458.07\pm 0.31$~keV). Reaching this resolution requires the efficient collection of both the ionization and scintillation produced in the detector. The nEXO design employs Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) to detect the vacuum ultra-violet, 175 nm scintillation light of liquid xenon. This paper reports on the characterization of the newest vacuum ultra-violet sensitive Fondazione Bruno Kessler VUVHD3 SiPMs specifically designed for nEXO, as well as new measurements on new test samples of previously characterised Hamamatsu VUV4 Multi Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs). Various SiPM and MPPC parameters, such as dark noise, gain, direct crosstalk, correlated avalanches and photon detection efficiency were measured as a function of the applied over voltage and wavelength at liquid xenon temperature (163~K). The results from this study are used to provide updated estimates of the achievable energy resolution at the decay $Q$-value for the nEXO design.
We present an analysis of the charmless semileptonic decay $B^0\toπ^- \ell^+ ν_{\ell}$, where $\ell = e, μ$, from 198.0 million pairs of $B\bar{B}$ mesons recorded by the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB electron-positron collider. The decay is reconstructed without identifying the partner $B$ meson. The partial branching fractions are measured independently for $B^0\toπ^- e^+ ν_{e}$ and $B^0\toπ^- μ^+ ν_μ$ as functions of $q^{2}$ (momentum transfer squared), using 3896 $B^0\toπ^- e^+ ν_{e}$ and 5466 $B^0\toπ^- μ^+ ν_μ$ decays. The total branching fraction is found to be $(1.426 \pm 0.056 \pm 0.125) \times 10^{-4}$ for $B^0\toπ^- \ell^+ ν_{\ell}$ decays, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. By fitting the measured partial branching fractions as functions of $q^{2}$, together with constraints on the nonperturbative hadronic contribution from lattice QCD calculations, the magnitude of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element $V_{ub}$, $(3.55 \pm 0.12 \pm 0.13 \pm 0.17) \times 10^{-3}$, is extracted. Here, the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic and the third is theoretical.
We present a determination of the magnitude of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element $V_{cb}$ using $B\to D\ellν$ decays. The result is based on $e^+e^-\toΥ(4S)$ data recorded by the Belle II detector corresponding to 189.2/fb of integrated luminosity. The semileptonic decays $B^0\to D^-(\to K^+π^-π^-)\ell^+ν_\ell$ and $B^+\to\bar D^0(\to K^+π^-)\ell^+ν_\ell$ are reconstructed, where $\ell$ is either electron or a muon. The second $B$ meson in the $Υ(4S)$ event is not explicitly reconstructed. Using the diamond-frame method, we determine the $B$ meson four-momentum and thus the hadronic recoil. We extract the partial decay rates as functions of $w$ and perform a fit to the decay form-factor and the CKM parameter $|V_{cb}|$ using the BGL parameterization of the form factor and lattice QCD input from the FNAL/MILC and HPQCD collaborations. We obtain $η_{EW}|V_{cb}|=(38.53\pm 1.15)\times 10^{-3}$, where $η_{EW}$ is an electroweak correction, and the error accounts for theoretical and experimental sources of uncertainty.
We measure the photon-energy spectrum in radiative bottom-meson ($B$) decays into inclusive final states involving a strange hadron and a photon. We use SuperKEKB electron-positron collisions corresponding to $189~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance by the Belle II experiment. The partner $B$ candidates are fully reconstructed using a large number of hadronic channels. The $B \rightarrow X_s γ$ partial branching fractions are measured as a function of photon energy in the signal $B$ meson rest frame in eight bins above $1.8~\mathrm{GeV}$. The background-subtracted signal yield for this photon energy region is $343 \pm 122$ events. Integrated branching fractions for three photon energy thresholds of $1.8~\mathrm{GeV}$, $2.0~\mathrm{GeV}$, and $2.1~\mathrm{GeV}$ are also reported, and found to be in agreement with world averages.
We report a measurement of decay-time dependent $CP$-violating parameters in $B^0 \rightarrow K^0_S K^0_S K^0_S$ decays. We use $(198.0 \pm 3.0) \times 10^6\ B\overline{B}$ pairs collected at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider. The observed mixing-induced and direct $CP$ violation parameters are $\mathcal{S} = -1.86\ _{-0.46}^{+0.91}~{\rm (stat)} \pm 0.09~{\rm (syst)}$ and $\mathcal{A} = -0.22\ _{-0.27}^{+0.30}~{\rm (stat)} \pm 0.04~{\rm (syst)}$, respectively.
We present a reconstruction of the semileptonic decays $B^0 \to π^- e^+ ν_e$ and $B^+ \to π^0 e^+ ν_e$ in a sample corresponding to 189.3 fb$^{-1}$ of Belle II data, using events where the partner $B$-meson is reconstructed from a large variety of hadronic channels via a tagging algorithm known as the full-event-interpretation. We determine the partial branching fractions in three bins of the squared momentum transfer to the leptonic system using fits to the distribution of the square of the missing mass. The partial branching fractions are summed to determine $\mathcal{B}(B^0 \to π^- e^+ ν_e)$ = (1.43 $\pm$ 0.27(stat) $\pm$ 0.07(syst)) $\times 10^{-4}$ and $\mathcal{B}(B^+ \to π^0 e^+ ν_e)$ = (8.33 $\pm$ 1.67(stat) $\pm$ 0.55(syst)) $\times 10^{-5}$. We extract a first Belle II measurement of the magnitude of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element $|V_{\mathrm{ub}}|$, with $|V_{\mathrm{ub}}|$ = (3.88 $\pm$ 0.45) $\times 10^{-3}$.
We report a measurement of the branching fraction of $B \to K^{\ast}(892)\ell^+\ell^-$ decays, where $\ell^+\ell^- = μ^+μ^-$ or $e^+e^-$, using electron-positron collisions recorded at an energy at or near the $Υ(4S)$ mass and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $189$ fb$^{-1}$. The data was collected during 2019--2021 by the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB $e^{+}e^{-}$ asymmetric-energy collider. We reconstruct $K^{\ast}(892)$ candidates in the $K^+π^-$, $K_{S}^{0}π^+$, and $K^+π^0$ final states. The signal yields with statistical uncertainties are $22\pm 6$, $18 \pm 6$, and $38 \pm 9$ for the decays $B \to K^{\ast}(892)μ^+μ^-$, $B \to K^{\ast}(892)e^+e^-$, and $B \to K^{\ast}(892)\ell^+\ell^-$, respectively. We measure the branching fractions of these decays for the entire range of the dilepton mass, excluding the very low mass region to suppress the $B \to K^{\ast}(892)γ(\to e^+e^-)$ background and regions compatible with decays of charmonium resonances, to be \begin{equation} {\cal B}(B \to K^{\ast}(892)μ^+μ^-) = (1.19 \pm 0.31 ^{+0.08}_{-0.07}) \times 10^{-6}, {\cal B}(B \to K^{\ast}(892)e^+e^-) = (1.42 \pm 0.48 \pm 0.09)\times 10^{-6}, {\cal B}(B \to K^{\ast}(892)\ell^+\ell^-) = (1.25 \pm 0.30 ^{+0.08}_{-0.07}) \times 10^{-6}, \end{equation} where the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. These results, limited by sample size, are the first measurements of $B \to K^{\ast}(892)\ell^+\ell^-$ branching fractions from the Belle II experiment.
We determine the branching fractions ${\mathcal{B}}$ and $CP$ asymmetries ${\mathcal{A}_{\it CP}}$ of the decays $B^+ \rightarrow π^+ π^0$ and $B^+ \rightarrow K^+ π^0$. The results are based on a data set containing 198 million bottom-antibottom meson pairs corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $190\;\text{fb}^{-1}$ recorded by the Belle II detector in energy-asymmetric electron-positron collisions at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance. We measure ${\mathcal{B}(B^+ \rightarrow π^+ π^0) = (6.12 \pm 0.53 \pm 0.53)\times 10^{-6}}$, ${\mathcal{B}(B^+ \rightarrow K^+ π^0) = (14.30 \pm 0.69 \pm 0.79)\times 10^{-6}}$, ${\mathcal{A}_{\it CP}(B^+ \rightarrow π^+ π^0) = -0.085 \pm 0.085 \pm 0.019}$, and ${\mathcal{A}_{\it CP}(B^+ \rightarrow K^+ π^0) = 0.014 \pm 0.047 \pm 0.010}$, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. These results improve a previous Belle II measurement and agree with the world averages.
The branching fractions of the decays $B^{+} \to η\ell^{+} ν_{\ell}$ and $B^{+} \to η^{\prime} \ell^{+} ν_{\ell}$ are measured, where $\ell$ is either an electron or a muon, using a data sample of $711\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$ containing $772 \times 10^6 B\bar{B}$ pairs collected at the $Υ(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+ e^-$ collider. To reduce the dependence of the result on the form factor model, the measurement is performed over the entire $q^2$ range. The resulting branching fractions are ${\cal B}(B^{+} \rightarrow η\ell^{+} ν_{\ell}) = (2.83 \pm 0.55_{\rm (stat.)} \pm 0.34_{\rm (syst.)}) \times 10^{-5}$ and ${\cal B}(B^{+} \rightarrow η' \ell^{+} ν_{\ell}) = (2.79 \pm 1.29_{\rm (stat.)} \pm 0.30_{\rm (syst.)}) \times 10^{-5}$.