Search for the decay $B^{0}\toγγ$ using Belle and Belle II data

We report the result of a search for the rare decay $B^{0} \to γγ$ using a combined dataset of $753\times10^{6}$ $B\bar{B}$ pairs collected by the Belle experiment and $387\times10^{6}$ $B\bar{B}$ pairs collected by the Belle II experiment from decays of the $\rm Υ(4S)$ resonance produced in $e^{+}e^{-}$ collisions. A simultaneous fit to the Belle and Belle II data sets yields $11.0^{+6.5}_{-5.5}$ signal events, corresponding to a 2.5$σ$ significance. We determine the branching fraction $\mathcal{B}(B^{0} \to γγ) = (3.7^{+2.2}_{-1.8}(\rm stat)\pm0.5(\rm syst))\times10^{-8}$ and set a 90% credibility level upper limit of $\mathcal{B}(B^{0} \to γγ) < 6.4\times10^{-8}$.