We search for the rare decay $B^{+}\rightarrow K^{+}\nu\bar{\nu}$ in a $362\ \rm{fb}^{-1}$ sample of electron-positron collisions at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance collected with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB collider. We use the inclusive properties of the accompanying $B$ meson in $\Upsilon(4S) \to B\kern 0.18em\overline{\kern -0.18em B}{}$ events to suppress background from other decays of the signal $B$ candidate and light-quark pair production. We validate the measurement with an auxiliary analysis based on a conventional hadronic reconstruction of the accompanying $B$ meson. For background suppression, we exploit distinct signal features using machine learning methods tuned with simulated data. The signal-reconstruction efficiency and background suppression are validated through various control channels. The branching fraction is extracted in a maximum likelihood fit. Our inclusive and hadronic analyses yield consistent results for the $B^{+}\rightarrow K^{+}\nu\bar{\nu}$ branching fraction of $\left[2.7\pm 0.5(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.5(\mathrm{syst})\right] \times 10^{-5}$ and $\left[1.1^{+0.9}_{-0.8}(\mathrm{stat}){}^{+0.8}_{-0.5}(\mathrm{syst})\right] \times 10^{-5}$, respectively. Combining the results, we determine the branching fraction of the decay $B^{+}\rightarrow K^{+}\nu\bar{\nu}$ to be $\left[2.3 \pm 0.5(\mathrm{stat})^{+0.5}_{-0.4}(\mathrm{syst})\right]\times 10^{-5}$, providing the first evidence for this decay at $3.5$ standard deviations. The combined result is $2.7$ standard deviations above the standard model expectation.
We present a search for the rare flavor-changing neutral-current decay $B^0 \to K^{\ast 0} τ^+ τ^-$ with data collected by the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB electron-positron collider. The analysis uses a 365 fb$^{-1}$ data sample recorded at the center-of-mass energy of the $Υ(4S)$ resonance. One of the $B$ mesons produced in the $Υ(4S)\to B^0 \bar{B}^0$ process is fully reconstructed in a hadronic decay mode, while its companion $B$ meson is required to decay into a $K^{\ast 0}$ and two $τ$ leptons of opposite charge. The $τ$ leptons are reconstructed in final states with a single electron, muon, charged pion or charged $ρ$ meson, and additional neutrinos. We set an upper limit on the branching ratio of $BR(B^0 \to K^{\ast 0} τ^+ τ^-) < 1.8 \times 10^{-3}$ at the 90% confidence level, which is the most stringent constraint reported to date.
The first measurements of differential branching fractions of inclusive semileptonic ${B \to X_u \, \ell^+\, \nu_{\ell}}$ decays are performed using the full Belle data set of 711 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance and for $\ell = e, \mu$. Differential branching fractions are reported as a function of the lepton momentum, the four-momentum-transfer squared, light-cone momenta, the hadronic mass, and the hadronic mass squared. They are obtained by subtracting the backgrounds from semileptonic ${B \to X_c \, \ell^+\, \nu_{\ell}}$ decays and other processes, and corrected for resolution and acceptance effects. The measured distributions are compared to predictions from inclusive and hybrid ${B \to X_u \, \ell^+\, \nu_{\ell}}$ calculations.
We present the measurement of the first to fourth order moments of the four-momentum transfer squared, $q^2$, of inclusive $B \rightarrow X_c \ell^+ \nu_{\ell}$ decays using the full Belle data set of 711 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance where $\ell = e, \mu$. The determination of these moments and their systematic uncertainties open new pathways to determine the absolute value of the CKM matrix element $V_{cb}$ using a reduced set of matrix elements of the heavy quark expansion. In order to identify and reconstruct the $X_c$ system, we reconstruct one of the two $B$-mesons using machine learning techniques in fully hadronic decay modes. The moments are measured with progressively increasing threshold selections on $q^2$ starting with a lower value of 3.0 $\mathrm{GeV}^2$ in steps of 0.5 $\mathrm{GeV}^2$ up to a value of 10.0 $\mathrm{GeV}^2$. The measured moments are further unfolded, correcting for reconstruction and selection effects as well as QED final state radiation. We report the moments separately for electron and muon final states and observe no lepton flavor universality violating effects.
We present the first comprehensive tests of light-lepton universality in the angular distributions of semileptonic $B^0$-meson decays to charged spin-1 charmed mesons. We measure five angular-asymmetry observables as functions of the decay recoil that are sensitive to lepton-universality-violating contributions. We use events where one neutral $B$ is fully reconstructed in $\Upsilon\left(4S\right)\to{}B \overline{B}$ decays in data corresponding to $189~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ integrated luminosity from electron-positron collisions collected with the Belle II detector. We find no significant deviation from the standard model expectations.
We present a measurement of the differential shapes of exclusive $B\to D^* \ell \bar{\nu}_\ell$ ($B = B^-, \bar{B}^0 $ and $\ell = e, \mu$) decays with hadronic tag-side reconstruction for the full Belle data set of $711\,\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ integrated luminosity. We extract the Caprini-Lellouch-Neubert (CLN) and Boyd-Grinstein-Lebed (BGL) form factor parameters and use an external input for the absolute branching fractions to determine the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element and find $|V_{cb}|_\mathrm{CLN} = (40.1\pm0.9)\times 10^{-3}$ and $|V_{cb}|_\mathrm{BGL} = (40.6\pm 0.9)\times 10^{-3}$ with the zero-recoil lattice QCD point $\mathcal{F}(1) = 0.906 \pm 0.013$. We also perform a study of the impact of preliminary beyond zero-recoil lattice QCD calculations on the $|V_{cb}|$ determinations. Additionally, we present the lepton flavor universality ratio $R_{e\mu} = \mathcal{B}(B \to D^* e \bar{\nu}_e) / \mathcal{B}(B \to D^* \mu \bar{\nu}_\mu) = 0.990 \pm 0.021 \pm 0.023$, the electron and muon forward-backward asymmetry and their difference $\Delta A_{FB}=0.022\pm0.026\pm 0.007$, and the electron and muon $D^*$ longitudinal polarization fraction and their difference $\Delta F_L^{D^*} = 0.034 \pm 0.024 \pm 0.007$. The uncertainties quoted correspond to the statistical and systematic uncertainties, respectively.
We report a measurement of the $e^+e^- \to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ cross section in the energy range from 0.62 to 3.50 GeV using an initial-state radiation technique. We use an $e^+e^-$ data sample corresponding to 191 $\text{fb}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, collected at a center-of-mass energy at or near the $\Upsilon{(4S)}$ resonance with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB collider. Signal yields are extracted by fitting the two-photon mass distribution in $e^+e^- \to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0\gamma$ events, which involve a $\pi^0 \to \gamma\gamma$ decay and an energetic photon radiated from the initial state. Signal efficiency corrections with an accuracy of 1.6% are obtained from several control data samples. The uncertainty on the cross section at the $\omega$ and $\phi$ resonances is dominated by the systematic uncertainty of 2.2%. The resulting cross sections in the 0.62-1.80 GeV energy range yield $ a_\mu^{3\pi} = [48.91 \pm 0.23~(\mathrm{stat}) \pm 1.07~(\mathrm{syst})] \times 10^{-10} $ for the leading-order hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment. This result differs by $2.5$ standard deviations from the most precise current determination.
The $L_{\mu}-L_{\tau}$ extension of the standard model predicts the existence of a lepton-flavor-universality-violating $Z^{\prime}$ boson that couples only to the heavier lepton families. We search for such a $Z^\prime$ through its invisible decay in the process $e^+ e^- \to \mu^+ \mu^- Z^{\prime}$. We use a sample of electron-positron collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58GeV collected by the Belle II experiment in 2019-2020, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 79.7fb$^{-1}$. We find no excess over the expected standard-model background. We set 90$\%$-confidence-level upper limits on the cross section for this process as well as on the coupling of the model, which ranges from $3 \times 10^{-3}$ at low $Z^{\prime}$ masses to 1 at $Z^{\prime}$ masses of 8$GeV/c^{2}$.
We determine the CKM matrix-element magnitude $|V_{cb}|$ using $\overline{B}^0\to D^{*+}\ell^-\bar\nu_\ell$ decays reconstructed in $189 \, \mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ of collision data collected by the Belle II experiment, located at the SuperKEKB $e^+e^-$ collider. Partial decay rates are reported as functions of the recoil parameter $w$ and three decay angles separately for electron and muon final states. We obtain $|V_{cb}|$ using the Boyd-Grinstein-Lebed and Caprini-Lellouch-Neubert parametrizations, and find $|V_{cb}|_\mathrm{BGL}=(40.57\pm 0.31 \pm 0.95\pm 0.58)\times 10^{-3}$ and $|V_{cb}|_\mathrm{CLN}=(40.13 \pm 0.27 \pm 0.93\pm 0.58 )\times 10^{-3}$ with the uncertainties denoting statistical components, systematic components, and components from the lattice QCD input, respectively. The branching fraction is measured to be ${\cal B}(\overline{B}^0\to D^{*+}\ell^-\bar\nu_\ell)=(4.922 \pm 0.023 \pm 0.220)\%$. The ratio of branching fractions for electron and muon final states is found to be $0.998 \pm 0.009 \pm 0.020$. In addition, we determine the forward-backward angular asymmetry and the $D^{*+}$ longitudinal polarization fractions. All results are compatible with lepton-flavor universality in the Standard Model.
Additional spin-0 particles appear in many extensions of the standard model. We search for long-lived spin-0 particles $S$ in $B$-meson decays mediated by a $b\to s$ quark transition in $e^+e^-$ collisions at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance at the Belle II experiment. Based on a sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $189 \mathrm{\,fb}^{-1}$, we observe no evidence for signal. We set model-independent upper limits on the product of branching fractions $\mathrm{Br}(B^0\to K^*(892)^0(\to K^+\pi^-)S)\times \mathrm{Br}(S\to x^+x^-)$ and $\mathrm{Br}(B^+\to K^+S)\times \mathrm{Br}(S\to x^+x^-)$, where $x^+x^-$ indicates $e^+e^-, \mu^+\mu^-, \pi^+\pi^-$, or $K^+K^-$, as functions of $S$ mass and lifetime at the level of $10^{-7}$.
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