Search for the Decay B0 -> ppbar

TL;DR

This study searched for the rare decay B^0 -> ppbar using data from the BaBar detector but found no evidence, setting an upper limit on its branching fraction.

Contribution

The paper provides the first upper limit on the branching fraction of B^0 -> ppbar decay using a large dataset and advanced particle identification techniques.

Findings

No evidence for B^0 -> ppbar decay was observed.

Set a 90% confidence level upper limit of BF < 2.7 x 10^-7.

Demonstrated effective proton identification with Cherenkov radiation.

Abstract

We present the result of a search for the charmless two-body baryonic decay B^0 -> ppbar in a sample of 88 million Y(4S) -> BBbar decays collected by the BaBar detector at the SLAC PEP-II asymmetric-energy $B$ Factory. We use Cherenkov radiation to identify protons cleanly, and determine the signal yield with a maximum-likelihood fit technique using kinematic and topological information. We find no evidence for a signal and place a 90% confidence-level upper limit of BF(B^0 -> ppbar) < 2.7 x 10^-7.