A Hierarchical NeuroBayes-based Algorithm for Full Reconstruction of B Mesons at B Factories

We describe a new B-meson full reconstruction algorithm designed for the Belle experiment at the B-factory KEKB, an asymmetric e+e- collider that collected a data sample of 771.6 x 10^6 BBbar pairs during its running time. To maximize the number of reconstructed B decay channels, it utilizes a hierarchical reconstruction procedure and probabilistic calculus instead of classical selection cuts. The multivariate analysis package NeuroBayes was used extensively to hold the balance between highest possible efficiency, robustness and acceptable consumption of CPU time. In total, 1104 exclusive decay channels were reconstructed, employing 71 neural networks altogether. Overall, we correctly reconstruct one B+/- or B0 candidate in 0.28% or 0.18% of the BBbar events, respectively. Compared to the cut-based classical reconstruction algorithm used at the Belle experiment, this is an improvement in efficiency by roughly a factor of 2, depending on the analysis considered. The new framework also features the ability to choose the desired purity or efficiency of the fully reconstructed sample freely. If the same purity as for the classical full reconstruction code is desired ~25%, the efficiency is still larger by nearly a factor of 2. If, on the other hand, the efficiency is chosen at a similar level as the classical full reconstruction, the purity rises from ~25% to nearly 90%

Evidence of the Purely Leptonic Decay B- --> tau- nu_tau-bar

We present the first evidence of the decay B- --> tau- nu_tau-bar using 414 fb^-1 of data collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. Events are tagged by fully reconstructing one of the B mesons in hadronic modes. We detect the signal with a significance of 3.5 standard deviations including systematics, and measure the branching fraction to be Br(B- --> tau- nu_tau-bar) = (1.79 +0.56-0.49(stat) +0.46-0.51(syst))*10^-4. This implies that f_B = 0.229 +0.036-0.031(stat) +0.034-0.037(syst) GeV and is the first direct measurement of this quantity.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letter

Search for Bs0→γγB_{s}^{0}\rightarrow\gamma\gamma and a measurement of the branching fraction for Bs0→ϕγB_{s}^{0}\rightarrow\phi\gamma

We search for the decay $B_{s}^{0}\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$ and measure the branching fraction for $B_{s}^{0}\rightarrow\phi\gamma$ using 121.4~$\textrm{fb}^{-1}$ of data collected at the $\Upsilon(\mathrm{5}S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^{+}e^{-}$ collider. The $B_{s}^{0}\rightarrow\phi\gamma$ branching fraction is measured to be $(3.6 \pm 0.5 (\mathrm{stat.}) \pm 0.3 (\mathrm{syst.}) \pm 0.6 (f_{s})) \times 10^{-5}$, where $f_{s}$ is the fraction of $B_{s}^{(*)}\bar{B}_{s}^{(*)}$ in $b\bar{b}$ events. Our result is in good agreement with the theoretical predictions as well as with a recent measurement from LHCb. We observe no statistically significant signal for the decay $B_{s}^{0}\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$ and set a $90\%$ confidence-level upper limit on its branching fraction at $3.1 \times 10^{-6}$. This constitutes a significant improvement over the previous result.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Search for a dark vector gauge boson decaying to π+π−\pi^+ \pi^- using η→π+π−γ\eta \rightarrow \pi^+\pi^- \gamma decays

We report a search for a dark vector gauge boson $U^\prime$ that couples to quarks in the decay chain $D^{*+} \to D^0 \pi^+, D^0 \to K^0_S \eta, \eta \to U^\prime \gamma$, $U^\prime \to \pi^+ \pi^-$. No signal is found and we set a mass-dependent limit on the baryonic fine structure constant of $10^{-3} - 10^{-2}$ in the $U^\prime$ mass range of 290 to 520 MeV/$c^2$. This analysis is based on a data sample of 976 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the Belle experiment at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Search for D0D^{0} decays to invisible final states at Belle

We report the result from the first search for $D^0$ decays to invisible final states. The analysis is performed on a data sample of 924 $\rm{fb}^{-1}$ collected at and near the $\Upsilon(4S)$ and $\Upsilon(5S)$ resonances with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^{+}e^{-}$ collider. The absolute branching fraction is determined using an inclusive $D^0$ sample, obtained by fully reconstructing the rest of the particle system including the other charmed particle. No significant signal yield is observed and an upper limit of $9.4\times 10^{-5}$ is set on the branching fraction of $D^0$ to invisible final states at 90\% confidence level.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PRD(RC

Search for the decay B+→K‾∗0K∗+B^+\rightarrow\overline{K}{}^{*0}K^{*+} at Belle

We report a search for the rare charmless decay $B^+\rightarrow\overline{K}{}^{*0}K^{*+}$ using a data sample of $772\times10^6$ $B\bar{B}$ pairs collected at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider. No statistically significant signal is found and a 90% confidence-level upper limit is set on the decay branching fraction as $\mathcal{B}(B^+\rightarrow\overline{K}{}^{*0}K^{*+}) <1.31\times 10^{-6}$.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PRD(RC

Energy scan of the e+e−→hb(nP)π+π−e^+e^- \to h_b(nP)\pi^+\pi^- (n=1,2)(n=1,2) cross sections and evidence for Υ(11020)\Upsilon(11020) decays into charged bottomonium-like states

Using data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider, we measure the energy dependence of the $e^+e^- \to h_b(nP)\pi^+\pi^-$ $(n=1,2)$ cross sections from thresholds up to $11.02\,$GeV. We find clear $\Upsilon(10860)$ and $\Upsilon(11020)$ peaks with little or no continuum contribution. We study the resonant substructure of the $\Upsilon(11020) \to h_b(nP)\pi^+\pi^-$ transitions and find evidence that they proceed entirely via the intermediate isovector states $Z_b(10610)$ and $Z_b(10650)$. The relative fraction of these states is loosely constrained by the current data: the hypothesis that only $Z_b(10610)$ is produced is excluded at the level of 3.3 standard deviations, while the hypothesis that only $Z_b(10650)$ is produced is not excluded at a significant level.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Study of e+e- => B(*) B(*)-bar pi+- at sqrt(s)=10.866 GeV

We report the analysis of the three-body e+e- => B B-bar pi, B B*-bar pi, and B* B*-bar pi processes, including the first observation of the Zb+-(10610) =>[B B*-bar+c.c.]+- and Zb+-(10650) => [B*B*-bar]+- transitions. We measure visible cross sections for the three-body production of sigma_vis(e+e- => [B B*-bar+c.c.]+-pi-+=(11.2+-1.0(stat.)+-1.2(syst.)) pb and sigma_vis(e+e- => [B*B*-bar]+-pi-+)=(5.61+-0.73(stat.)+-0.66(syst.)) pb and set a 90% C.L. upper limit of sigma_vis(e+e- => [BB-bar]+-pi-+)<2.1 pb. The results are based on a 121.4 1/fb data sample collected with the Belle detector at a center-of-mass energy near the Y(5S) peak.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

Measurements of the masses and widths of the Σc(2455)0/++\Sigma_{c}(2455)^{0/++} and Σc(2520)0/++\Sigma_{c}(2520)^{0/++} baryons

We present measurements of the masses and decay widths of the baryonic states $\Sigma_{c}(2455)^{0/++}$ and $\Sigma_{c}(2520)^{0/++}$ using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 711 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB $e^{+}e^{-}$ asymmetric-energy collider operating at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance. We report the mass differences with respect to the $\Lambda_{c}^{+}$ baryon $M(\Sigma_{c}(2455)^{0})-M(\Lambda_{c}^{+}) = 167.29\pm0.01\pm0.02$ MeV/$c^{2}$, $M(\Sigma_{c}(2455)^{++})-M(\Lambda_{c}^{+}) = 167.51\pm0.01\pm0.02$ MeV/$c^{2}$, $M(\Sigma_{c}(2520)^{0})-M(\Lambda_{c}^{+}) = 231.98\pm0.11\pm0.04$ MeV/$c^{2}$, $M(\Sigma_{c}(2520)^{++})-M(\Lambda_{c}^{+}) = 231.99\pm0.10\pm0.02$ MeV/$c^{2}$, and the decay widths $\Gamma(\Sigma_{c}(2455)^{0}) = 1.76\pm0.04^{+0.09}_{-0.21}$ MeV/$c^{2}$, $\Gamma(\Sigma_{c}(2455)^{++}) = 1.84\pm0.04^{+0.07}_{-0.20}$ MeV/$c^{2}$, $\Gamma(\Sigma_{c}(2520)^{0}) = 15.41\pm0.41^{+0.20}_{-0.32}$ MeV/$c^{2}$, $\Gamma(\Sigma_{c}(2520)^{++}) = 14.77\pm0.25^{+0.18}_{-0.30}$ MeV/$c^{2}$, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. The isospin mass splittings are measured to be $M(\Sigma_{c}(2455)^{++})-M(\Sigma_{c}(2455)^{0})=0.22\pm0.01\pm0.01$ MeV/$c^{2}$ and $M(\Sigma_{c}(2520)^{++})-M(\Sigma_{c}(2520)^{0})=0.01\pm0.15\pm0.03$ MeV/$c^{2}$. These results are the most precise to date.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to PRD(RC