The LHCb simulation application, Gauss, consists of two independent phases, the generation of the primary event and the tracking of particles produced in the experimental setup. For the LHCb ...experimental program it is particularly important to model B meson decays: the EvtGen code developed in CLEO and BABAR has been chosen and customized for non-coherent B production as occuring in pp collisions at the LHC. The initial proton-proton collision is provided by a different generator engine, currently PYTHIA 6 for massive production of signal and generic pp collisions events. Beam gas events, background events originating from proton halo, cosmics and calibration events for different detectors can be generated in addition to pp collisions. Different generator packages as available in the physics community or specifically developed in LHCb are used for the different purposes. Running conditions affecting the generated events such as the size of the luminous region, the number of collisions occuring in a bunch crossing and the number of spill-over events from neighbouring bunches are modeled via dedicated algorithms appropriately configured. The design of the generator phase of Gauss will be described: a modular structure with well defined interfaces specific to the various tasks, e.g. pp collisions, particle decays, selections, etc. has been chosen. Different implementations are available for the various tasks allowing selecting and combining them as most appropriate at run time as in the case of PYTHIA 6 for pp collisions or HIJING for beam gas. The advantages of such structure, allowing for example to adopt transparently new generators packages, will be discussed.
The LHCb simulation application. Gauss, consists or two independent phases, the generation of the primary event and the tracking of particles produced in the experimental setup. For the LHCh ...experimental program it is particularly important to model B meson decays: the EvtGcn code developed in CLEO and BaBah has been chosen and customized for non-coherent B production as occurring in pp collisions at the LHC, The initial proton-proton collision is provided by a different generator engine, currently PYTHIA 6 for massive production of signal and generic pp collisions events. Beam gas events, background events originating from proton halo, cosmics and calibration events for different detectors can be generated in addition to pp collisions. Different generator packages as available in the physics community or specifically developed in LHCb are used for the different purposes. Running conditions affecting the events generated such as the size of the luminous region, the number of collisions occuring in a bunch crossing and the number of spill-over events from neighbouring bunches are modeled via dedicated algorithms appropriately configured. The design of the generator phase of Gauss will be described: a modular structure with well defined interfaces specific to the various tasks, e.g. pp collisions, particles' decays, selections, etc. has been chosen. Different implementations are available for the various tasks allowing selecting and combining them as most appropriate at run time as in the case of Pythia 6 im pp collisions or HIJING for beam gas. The advantages of such structure, allowing for example to adopt transparently new generators packages will be discussed.
The ratio of branching fractions of the radiative B decays B0 -> K*0 gamma and Bs0 phi gamma has been measured using an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb-1 of pp collision data collected by the LHCb ...experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The value obtained is BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) = 1.23 +/- 0.06(stat.) +/- 0.04(syst.) +/- 0.10(fs/fd), where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is the experimental systematic uncertainty and the third is associated with the ratio of fragmentation fractions fs/fd. Using the world average value for BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma), the branching fraction BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) is measured to be (3.5 +/- 0.4) x 10^{-5}. The direct CP asymmetry in B0 -> K*0 gamma decays has also been measured with the same data and found to be A(CP)(B0 -> K*0 gamma) = (0.8 +/- 1.7(stat.) +/- 0.9(syst.))%. Both measurements are the most precise to date and are in agreement with the previous experimental results and theoretical expectations.
The results of searches for B0(s) -> J/{\psi} p pbar and B+ -> J/{\psi} p pbar {\pi}+ decays are reported. The analysis is based on a data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 ...fb^-1 of pp collisions, collected with the LHCb detector. An excess with 2.8 {\sigma} significance is seen for the decay B0s -> J/{\psi} p pbar and an upper limit on the branching fraction is set at the 90 % confidence level: B(B0s -> J/{\psi} p pbar) < 4.8 x 10^-6, which is the first such limit. No significant signals are seen for B0 -> J/{\psi} p pbar and B+ -> J/{\psi} p pbar {\pi}+ decays, for which the corresponding limits are set: B(B0 -> J/{\psi} p pbar) < 5.2 x 10^-7, which significantly improves the existing limit; and B(B+ -> J/{\psi} p pbar {\pi}+) < 5.0 x 10^-7, which is the first limit on this branching fraction.
A study of $D^+\pi^-$, $D^0 \pi^+$ and $D^{*+}\pi^-$ final states is performed using pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 $fb^{-1}$, collected at a centre-of-mass ...energy of 7 TeV with the LHCb detector. The $D_1(2420)^0$ resonance is observed in the $D^{*+}\pi^-$ final state and the $D^*_2(2460)$ resonance is observed in the $D^+\pi^-$, $D^0 \pi^+$ and $D^{*+}\pi^-$ final states. For both resonances, their properties and spin-parity assignments are obtained. In addition, two natural parity and two unnatural parity resonances are observed in the mass region between 2500 and 2800 MeV. Further structures in the region around 3000 MeV are observed in all the $D^{*+}\pi^-$, $D^+\pi^-$ and $D^0 \pi^+$ final states.
A search for charmless three-body decays of B0 and B0s mesons with a KS0 meson in the final state is performed using the pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 /fb, ...collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV recorded by the LHCb experiment. Branching fractions of the B0(s) -> KS0 h+ h'- decay modes (h(') = \pi, K), relative to the well measured B0 -> KS0 \pi+ \pi- decay, are obtained. First observation of the decay modes B0s -> KS0 K+/- \pi-/+ and B0s -> KS0 \pi+ \pi- and confirmation of the decay B0 -> KS0 K+/- \pi-/+ are reported. The following relative branching fraction measurements or limits are obtained BF(B0 -> KS0 K+/- \pi-/+) / BF(B0 -> KS0 \pi+ \pi-) = 0.128 +/- 0.017 (stat.) +/- 0.009 (syst.), BF(B0 -> KS0 K+ K-) / BF(B0 -> KS0 \pi+ \pi-) = 0.385 +/- 0.031 (stat.) +/- 0.023 (syst.), BF(B0s -> KS0 \pi+ \pi-) / BF(B0 -> KS0 \pi+ \pi-) = 0.29 \pm 0.06 (stat.) +/- 0.03 (syst.) +/- 0.02 (f_s/f_d), BF(B0s -> KS0 K+/- \pi-/+) / BF(B0 -> KS0 \pi+ \pi-) = 1.48 +/- 0.12 (stat.) +/- 0.08 (syst.) +/- 0.12 (f_s/f_d), BF(B0s -> KS0 K+ K-) / BF(B0 -> KS0 \pi+ \pi-) E 0.004;0.068 at 90% CL.
A key ingredient to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model in $B^{0}_{s}$ mixing phenomena is the measurement of the $B^{0}_{s}$-$\bar{B}^{0}_{s}$ oscillation frequency, which is equivalent ...to the mass difference $\Delta m_{s}$ of the $B^{0}_{s}$ mass eigenstates. Using the world's largest $B^{0}_{s}$ meson sample accumulated in a dataset, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb$^{-1}$, collected by the LHCb experiment at the CERN LHC in 2011, a measurement of $\Delta m_{s}$ is presented. A total of about 34,000 $B^{0}_{s}\rightarrowD^{-}_{s}\pi^{+}$ signal decays are reconstructed, with an average decay time resolution of 44 fs. The oscillation frequency is measured to be \mbox{$\Delta m_{s}$ = 17.768 $\pm$ 0.023 (stat) $\pm$ 0.006 (syst) ps$^{-1}$}, which is the most precise measurement to date.
A search for Bs -> mu+ mu- and B0 -> mu+ mu- decays is performed using 1.0 fb^-1 of pp collision data collected at \sqrt{s}=7 TeV with the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. For both ...decays the number of observed events is consistent with expectation from background and Standard Model signal predictions. Upper limits on the branching fractions are determined to be BR(Bs -> mu+ mu-) < 4.5 (3.8) x 10^-9 and BR(B0 -> mu+ mu-) < 1.0 (0.81) x 10^-9 at 95% (90%) confidence level.
Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.35 $\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$ collected by LHCb in 2011, we report the first evidence of CP violation in the decays of $B^0_s$ mesons to ...$K^\pm \pi^\mp$ pairs, $A_{CP}(B^0_s \rightarrow K \pi)=0.27 \pm 0.08\,\mathrm{(stat)} \pm 0.02\,\mathrm{(syst)}$, with a significance of 3.3$\sigma$. Furthermore, we report the first observation of CP violation in $B^0$ decays at a hadron collider, $A_{CP}(B^0 \rightarrow K\pi)=-0.088 \pm 0.011\,\mathrm{(stat)} \pm 0.008\,\mathrm{(syst)}$, with a significance exceeding 6$\sigma$.
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