Search for B --> Ds(*) Phi

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for rare B- meson decays into Ds(*) Phi, finding no evidence and setting upper limits consistent with Standard Model predictions.

Contribution

First search for B- --> Ds(*) Phi decays, establishing upper limits on their branching fractions using a large dataset from BaBar.

Findings

No evidence for the decays was observed.

Upper limits on branching fractions were set at 1.8x10^(-6) and 1.1x10^(-5).

Results align with Standard Model expectations.

Abstract

We report on searches for B- --> Ds- Phi and B- --> Ds*- Phi. In the context of the Standard Model, the branching fractions for these decays are expected to be highly suppressed, since they proceed through annhilation of the b and u-bar quarks in the B- meson. Our results are based on 234 million Upsilon(4S) --> B Bbar decays collected with the BaBar detector at SLAC. We find no evidence for these decays, and we set 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions BF(B- --> Ds- Phi) < 1.8x10^(-6) BF(B- --> Ds*- Phi) < 1.1x10^(-5). These results are consistent with Standard Model expectations.