Search for B+ meson decay to a1+ K*0

TL;DR

This study searches for the decay of B+ mesons into a1+ and K*0 particles using a large dataset, but finds no significant signal and sets an upper limit on the decay probability.

Contribution

First search for the specific B+ decay mode to a1+ and K*0 using data from the BaBar detector, establishing an upper limit on its branching fraction.

Findings

No significant signal detected.

Upper limit on branching fraction set at 1.8 x 10^-6.

Data sample includes 465 million B meson pairs.

Abstract

We present a search for the decay $B^+ \rightarrow a_1^+(1260) K^{*0}(892)$. The data, collected with the \mbox{\slshape B\kern-0.1em{\smaller A}\kern-0.1em B\kern-0.1em{\smaller A\kern-0.2em R}} detector at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, represent 465 million $B\overline{B}$ pairs produced in $e^+e^-$ annihilation at the energy of the $\Upsilon(4s)$. We find no significant signal and set an upper limit at 90\%\ confidence level on the product of branching fractions {\cal B}(B^+ \rightarrow a_1^+(1260) K^{*0}(892)) \times {\cal B}(a_1^+(1260) \rightarrow \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^+) of $1.8 \times 10^{-6}$.