Measurement of the lifetime of the Bc+B_c^+ meson using the Bc+→J/ψπ+B_c^+\rightarrow J/\psi\pi^+ decay mode

The difference in total widths between the $B_c^+$ and $B^+$ mesons is measured using 3.0fb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the LHCb experiment in 7 and 8 TeV centre-of-mass energy proton-proton collisions at the LHC. Through the study of the time evolution of $B_c^+ \rightarrow J/\psi \pi^+$ and $B^+\rightarrow J/\psi K^+$ decays, the width difference is measured to be $$\Delta\Gamma \equiv \Gamma_{B_c^+} - \Gamma_{B^+} = 4.46 \pm 0.14 \pm 0.07mm^{-1}c,$$ where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The known lifetime of the $B^+$ meson is used to convert this to a precise measurement of the $B_c^+$ lifetime, $$\tau_{B_c^+} = 513.4 \pm 11.0 \pm 5.7fs,$$ where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic.Comment: 19 pagers, 3 figure

Measurement of the CP-violating phase β\beta in B0→J/ψπ+π−B^0\rightarrow J/\psi \pi^+\pi^- decays and limits on penguin effects

Time-dependent CP violation is measured in the $B^0\rightarrow J/\psi\pi^+\pi^-$ channel for each $\pi^+\pi^-$ resonant final state using data collected with an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb$^{-1}$ in $pp$ collisions using the LHCb detector. The final state with the largest rate, $J/\psi\rho^0(770)$, is used to measure the CP-violating angle $2\beta^{\rm eff}$ to be $(41.7\pm 9.6_{-6.3}^{+2.8})^{\circ}$. This result can be used to limit the size of penguin amplitude contributions to CP violation measurements in, for example, $B_s^0\rightarrow J/\psi\phi$ decays. Assuming approximate SU(3) flavour symmetry and neglecting higher order diagrams, the shift in the CP-violating phase $\phi_s$ is limited to be within the interval [$-1.05^\circ$, +$1.18^\circ$] at 95% confidence level. Changes to the limit due to SU(3) symmetry breaking effects are also discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures; v2-updated from reviewers comments and added a figur

Study of the rare B-s(0) and B-0 decays into the pi(+) pi(-) mu(+) mu(-) final state

A search for the rare decays $B_s^0 \to \pi^+\pi^-\mu^+\mu^-$ and $B^0 \to \pi^+\pi^-\mu^+\mu^-$ is performed in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the LHCb detector in proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. Decay candidates with pion pairs that have invariant mass in the range 0.5-1.3 GeV/$c^2$ and with muon pairs that do not originate from a resonance are considered. The first observation of the decay $B_s^0 \to \pi^+\pi^-\mu^+\mu^-$ and the first evidence of the decay $B^0 \to \pi^+\pi^-\mu^+\mu^-$ are obtained and the branching fractions, restricted to the dipion-mass range considered, are measured to be $\mathcal{B}(B_s^0 \to \pi^+\pi^-\mu^+\mu^-)=(8.6\pm 1.5\,({\rm stat}) \pm 0.7\,({\rm syst})\pm 0.7\,({\rm norm}))\times 10^{-8}$ and $\mathcal{B}(B^0 \to \pi^+\pi^-\mu^+\mu^-)=(2.11\pm 0.51\,({\rm stat}) \pm 0.15\,({\rm syst})\pm 0.16\,({\rm norm}) )\times 10^{-8}$, where the third uncertainty is due to the branching fraction of the decay $B^0\to J/\psi(\to \mu^+\mu^-)K^*(890)^0(\to K^+\pi^-)$, used as a normalisation.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, 2 Table