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 3.0 fb-1, are analysed to search for the charmless B0→ρ0ρ0 decay. 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→ρ0ρ0 decay is observed for the first time with 7.1 standard deviations significance. The fraction of B0→ρ0ρ0 decays yielding a longitudinally polarised final state is measured to be fL=0.745-0.058+0.048(stat)±0.034(syst). The B0→ρ0ρ0 branching fraction, using the B0→ϕK*(892)0 decay as reference, is also reported as B(B0→ρ0ρ0)=(0.94±0.17(stat)±0.09(syst)±0.06(BF))×10-6.