Observation of the decay $ Λ_b^0\rightarrow Λ_c^+τ^-\overlineν_τ$
The first observation of the semileptonic $b$-baryon decay $ Λ_b^0 \rightarrow Λ_c^+ τ^-\overlineν_τ$, with a significance of $6.1\,σ$, is reported using a data sample corresponding to 3 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, collected by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV at the LHC. The $τ^-$ lepton is reconstructed in the hadronic decay to three charged pions. The branching fraction ${\mathcal{B}}(Λ_b^0 \rightarrow Λ_c^+τ^-\overlineν_τ) = (1.50 \pm 0.16\pm 0.25\pm 0.23)\%$ is obtained, where uncertainties are statistical, systematic and from the external branching fraction of the normalisation channel $Λ_b^0\rightarrow Λ_c^+π^-π^+π^-$. The ratio of semileptonic branching fractions ${\mathcal{R}}( Λ_c^+)\equiv {\mathcal{B}}( Λ_b^0 \rightarrow Λ_c^+ τ^-\overlineν_τ)/{\mathcal{B}}( Λ_b^0 \rightarrow Λ_c^+ μ^-\overlineν_μ)$ is derived to be $0.242 \pm 0.026 \pm 0.040\pm 0.059$, where the external branching fraction uncertainty from the channel $Λ_b^0\rightarrow Λ_c^+μ^-\overlineν_μ$ contributes to the last term. This result is in agreement with the Standard Model prediction.