Search for Majorana neutrinos in B- →π+μ-μ- decays

Abstract

A search for heavy Majorana neutrinos produced in the B-→π+μ- μ- decay mode is performed using 3fb-1 of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb detector in pp collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV at the LHC. Neutrinos with masses in the range 250 to 5000 MeV and lifetimes from zero to 1000 ps are probed. In the absence of a signal, upper limits are set on the branching fraction B(B-→π+μ-μ-) as functions of neutrino mass and lifetime. These limits are on the order of 10-9 for short neutrino lifetimes of 1 ps or less. Limits are also set on the coupling between the muon and a possible fourth-generation neutrino. © 2014 CERN, for the LHCb collaboration.