Search for the decay $B^0\toφμ^+μ^-$

A search for the decay $B^0\toφμ^+μ^-$ is performed using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV collected by the LHCb experiment and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb$^{-1}$. No evidence for the $B^0\to φμ^+ μ^-$ decay is found and an upper limit on the branching fraction, excluding the $φ$ and charmonium regions in the dimuon spectrum, of $4.4 \times 10^{-3}$ at a 90$\%$ credibility level, relative to that of the $B^0_s \to φμ^+ μ^-$ decay, is established. Using the measured $B^0_s\toφμ^+μ^-$ branching fraction and assuming a phase-space model, the absolute branching fraction of the decay $B^0\to φμ^+ μ^-$ in the full $q^2$ range is determined to be less than $3.2 \times 10^{-9}$ at a 90$\%$ credibility level.