Precision measurement of the $Ξ^-_b$ baryon lifetime
hep-ex
/ Authors
LHCb collaboration, R. Aaij, A. S. W. Abdelmotteleb, C. Abellan Beteta, F. Abudinén, T. Ackernley, A. A. Adefisoye, B. Adeva, M. Adinolfi, P. Adlarson
and 1079 more authors
C. Agapopoulou, C. A. Aidala, Z. Ajaltouni, S. Akar, K. Akiba, P. Albicocco, J. Albrecht, F. Alessio, M. Alexander, Z. Aliouche, P. Alvarez Cartelle, R. Amalric, S. Amato, J. L. Amey, Y. Amhis, L. An, L. Anderlini, M. Andersson, A. Andreianov, P. Andreola, M. Andreotti, D. Andreou, A. Anelli, D. Ao
/ Abstract
A sample of $pp$ collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.5 fb$^{-1}$ and collected by the LHCb experiment during LHC Run 2, is used to measure the ratio of the lifetime of the $Ξ^-_b$ baryon to that of the $Λ^0_b$ baryon, $r_τ\equivτ_{Ξ^-_b}/τ_{Λ^0_b}$. The value ${r_τ=1.076\pm0.013\pm0.006}$ is obtained, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. This value is averaged with the corresponding value from Run 1 to obtain ${r_τ^{\rm Run\,1,2} = 1.078\pm0.012\pm0.007}$. Multiplying by the world-average value of the $Λ^0_b$ lifetime yields $τ_{Ξ^-_b}^{\rm Run~1,2} = 1.578\pm0.018\pm0.010\pm0.011$ ps, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and due to the limited knowledge of the $Λ^0_b$ lifetime. This measurement improves the precision of the current world average of the $Ξ^-_b$ lifetime by about a factor of two, and is in good agreement with the most recent theoretical predictions.