Search for hidden-sector bosons in $B^0 \!\to K^{*0}μ^+μ^-$ decays

Abstract

A search is presented for hidden-sector bosons, $χ$, produced in the decay ${B^0\!\to K^*(892)^0χ}$, with $K^*(892)^0\!\to K^{+}π^{-}$ and $χ\!\toμ^+μ^-$. The search is performed using $pp$-collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the LHCb detector. No significant signal is observed in the accessible mass range $214 \leq m(χ) \leq 4350$ MeV, and upper limits are placed on the branching fraction product $\mathcal{B}(B^0\!\to K^*(892)^0χ)\times\mathcal{B}(χ\!\toμ^+μ^-)$ as a function of the mass and lifetime of the $χ$ boson. These limits are of the order of $10^{-9}$ for $χ$ lifetimes less than 100 ps over most of the $m(χ)$ range, and place the most stringent constraints to date on many theories that predict the existence of additional low-mass bosons.

All figures and tables, along with supplementary material, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2015-036.html