Search for Lepton-Flavor-Violating Decays of B Mesons

Search for Lepton-Flavor-Violating Decays of B Mesons

(9 May 2002) | CLEO Collaboration
The CLEO Collaboration has searched for lepton-flavor-violating decays of $B$ mesons in a sample of 9.6 million $B\bar{B}$ events, focusing on modes such as $B \rightarrow h \ell^\pm \ell^\mp$, $B^+ \rightarrow h^- \ell^+ \ell^+$, $B^+ \rightarrow h^- \ell^+ \ell^+$, and $B^+ \rightarrow h^- \ell^+ \ell^+$. These decays are predicted to be small but non-zero by the Standard Model, while others are expected to vanish. The search used techniques similar to those described in previous studies, including specific ionization and time-of-flight information to identify kaons. Backgrounds from $\psi$ and $\psi'$ mesons were reduced by applying strict identification criteria. The analysis employed an unbinned maximum likelihood method to discriminate between signal and background events. No compelling evidence for any of the decays was found, and 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions ranging from 1.0 to $8.3 \times 10^{-6}$ were placed. These limits are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model and provide constraints on theories beyond the Standard Model.The CLEO Collaboration has searched for lepton-flavor-violating decays of $B$ mesons in a sample of 9.6 million $B\bar{B}$ events, focusing on modes such as $B \rightarrow h \ell^\pm \ell^\mp$, $B^+ \rightarrow h^- \ell^+ \ell^+$, $B^+ \rightarrow h^- \ell^+ \ell^+$, and $B^+ \rightarrow h^- \ell^+ \ell^+$. These decays are predicted to be small but non-zero by the Standard Model, while others are expected to vanish. The search used techniques similar to those described in previous studies, including specific ionization and time-of-flight information to identify kaons. Backgrounds from $\psi$ and $\psi'$ mesons were reduced by applying strict identification criteria. The analysis employed an unbinned maximum likelihood method to discriminate between signal and background events. No compelling evidence for any of the decays was found, and 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions ranging from 1.0 to $8.3 \times 10^{-6}$ were placed. These limits are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model and provide constraints on theories beyond the Standard Model.
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[slides and audio] Search for lepton-flavor-violating decays of B mesons