Observation of the B0→ρ0ρ0 decay from an amplitude analysis of B0→(π+π−)(π+π−)decays

Abstract

Proton–proton collision data recorded in 2011 and 2012 by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0fb−1, are analysed to search for the charmless B0→ρ0ρ0decay. More than 600 B0→(π+π−)(π+π−)signal decays are selected and used to perform an amplitude analysis, under the assumption of no CP violation in the decay, from which the B0→ρ0ρ0decay is observed for the first time with 7.1 standard deviations significance. The fraction of B0→ρ0ρ0decays yielding a longitudinally polarised final state is measured to be fL=0.745+0.048−0.058(stat) ±0.034(syst). The B0→ρ0ρ0branching fraction, using the B0→φK∗(892)0decay as reference, is also reported as B(B0→ρ0ρ0)=(0.94±0.17(stat)±0.09(syst)±0.06(BF))×10−6