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Abstract Charged-particle trajectories are usually reconstructed with the LHCb detector using combined information from the tracking devices placed upstream and downstream of the 4 T m dipole magnet. Trajectories reconstructed using only information from the tracker downstream of the dipole magnet, which are referred to as T tracks, have not been used for physics analysis to date. The challenges of the reconstruction of long-lived particles with T tracks for physics use are discussed and solutions are proposed. The feasibility and the tracking performance are studied using samples of long-lived$${\Lambda }$$ $\Lambda$and$$K_S^0$$ $K_S^0$hadrons decaying between 6.0 and 7.6 m downstream of the proton–proton collision point, thereby traversing most of the magnetic field region and providing maximal sensitivity to magnetic and electric dipole moments. The reconstruction can be expanded upstream to about 2.5 m for use in direct searches of exotic long-lived particles. The data used in this analysis have been recorded between 2015 and 2018 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 6 $$\hbox {fb}^{-1}$$ ${\text{fb}}^{-1}$. The results obtained demonstrate the possibility to further extend the decay volume and the physics reach of the LHCb experiment. 

Abstract A search for the very rare$$B^{*0}\rightarrow \mu ^+\mu ^-$$ $B_{}^{\ast 0}\to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$and$$B_{s}^{*0}\rightarrow \mu ^+\mu ^-$$ $B_s^{\ast 0}\to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$decays is conducted by analysing the$$B_c^+\rightarrow \pi ^+\mu ^+\mu ^-$$ $B_c^{+}\to {\pi }^{+}{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$process. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector between 2011 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9$$\text {\,fb}^{-1}$$ ${\text{,fb}}^{-1}$. The signal signatures correspond to simultaneous peaks in the$$\mu ^+\mu ^-$$ ${\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$and$$\pi ^+\mu ^+\mu ^-$$ ${\pi }^{+}{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$invariant masses. No evidence for an excess of events over background is observed for either signal decay mode. Upper limits at the$$90\%$$ $90\%$confidence level are set on the branching fractions relative to that for$$B_c^+\rightarrow J\hspace{-1.66656pt}/\hspace{-1.111pt}\psi \pi ^+$$ $B_c^{+}\to J/\psi {\pi }^{+}$decays,$$\begin{aligned} \mathcal{R}_{B^{*0}(\mu ^+\mu ^-)\pi ^+/J\hspace{-1.66656pt}/\hspace{-1.111pt}\psi \pi ^+}&< 3.8\times 10^{-5}\ \text { and }\\ \mathcal{R}_{B_{s}^{*0}(\mu ^+\mu ^-)\pi ^+/J\hspace{-1.66656pt}/\hspace{-1.111pt}\psi \pi ^+}&< 5.0\times 10^{-5}. \end{aligned}$$ $\begin{array}{cc}R_{B_{}^{\ast 0}\left({\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}\right){\pi }^{+}/J/\psi {\pi }^{+}}^{}& <3.8\times {10}^{-5}\text{and}\\ R_{B_s^{\ast 0}\left({\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}\right){\pi }^{+}/J/\psi {\pi }^{+}}^{}& <5.0\times {10}^{-5}.\end{array}$ 

Abstract Quantum chromodynamics, the theory of the strong force, describes interactions of coloured quarks and gluons and the formation of hadronic matter. Conventional hadronic matter consists of baryons and mesons made of three quarks and quark-antiquark pairs, respectively. Particles with an alternative quark content are known as exotic states. Here a study is reported of an exotic narrow state in the D 0 D 0 π + mass spectrum just below the D *+ D 0 mass threshold produced in proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The state is consistent with the ground isoscalar $${{{{{{\rm{T}}}}}}}_{{{{{{\rm{c}}}}}}{{{{{\rm{c}}}}}}}^{+}$$ T c c + tetraquark with a quark content of $${{{{{\rm{c}}}}}}{{{{{\rm{c}}}}}}\overline{{{{{{\rm{u}}}}}}}\overline{{{{{{\rm{d}}}}}}}$$ c c u ¯ d ¯ and spin-parity quantum numbers J P  = 1 + . Study of the DD mass spectra disfavours interpretation of the resonance as the isovector state. The decay structure via intermediate off-shell D *+ mesons is consistent with the observed D 0 π + mass distribution. To analyse the mass of the resonance and its coupling to the D * D system, a dedicated model is developed under the assumption of an isoscalar axial-vector $${{{{{{\rm{T}}}}}}}_{{{{{{\rm{c}}}}}}{{{{{\rm{c}}}}}}}^{+}$$ T c c + state decaying to the D * D channel. Using this model, resonance parameters including the pole position, scattering length, effective range and compositeness are determined to reveal important information about the nature of the $${{{{{{\rm{T}}}}}}}_{{{{{{\rm{c}}}}}}{{{{{\rm{c}}}}}}}^{+}$$ T c c + state. In addition, an unexpected dependence of the production rate on track multiplicity is observed. 

Abstract A search is performed for massive long-lived particles (LLPs) decaying semileptonically into a muon and two quarks. Two kinds of LLP production processes were considered. In the first, a Higgs-like boson with mass from 30 to 200 $$\text {\,GeV\!/}c^2$$ \,GeV\!/ c 2 is produced by gluon fusion and decays into two LLPs. The analysis covers LLP mass values from 10 $$\text {\,GeV\!/}c^2$$ \,GeV\!/ c 2 up to about one half the Higgs-like boson mass. The second LLP production mode is directly from quark interactions, with LLP masses from 10 to 90 $$\text {\,GeV\!/}c^2$$ \,GeV\!/ c 2 . The LLP lifetimes considered range from 5 to 200 ps. This study uses LHCb data collected from proton-proton collisions at $$\sqrt{s} = 13\text {\,TeV} $$ s = 13 \,TeV , corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 $$\text {\,fb} ^{-1}$$ \,fb - 1 . No evidence of these long-lived states has been observed, and upper limits on the production cross-section times branching ratio have been set for each model considered. 

Abstract The standard model of particle physics currently provides our best description of fundamental particles and their interactions. The theory predicts that the different charged leptons, the electron, muon and tau, have identical electroweak interaction strengths. Previous measurements have shown that a wide range of particle decays are consistent with this principle of lepton universality. This article presents evidence for the breaking of lepton universality in beauty-quark decays, with a significance of 3.1 standard deviations, based on proton–proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are of processes in which a beauty meson transforms into a strange meson with the emission of either an electron and a positron, or a muon and an antimuon. If confirmed by future measurements, this violation of lepton universality would imply physics beyond the standard model, such as a new fundamental interaction between quarks and leptons. 

Abstract Mesons comprising a beauty quark and strange quark can oscillate between particle ( $${B}_{\mathrm{s}}^{0}$$ B s 0 ) and antiparticle ( $${\overline{B}}_{\mathrm{s}}^{0}$$ B ¯ s 0 ) flavour eigenstates, with a frequency given by the mass difference between heavy and light mass eigenstates, Δ m s . Here we present a measurement of Δ m s using $${B}_{\mathrm{s}}^{0}\to {D}_{\mathrm{s}}^{-}$$ B s 0 → D s − π + decays produced in proton–proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The oscillation frequency is found to be Δ m s  = 17.7683 ± 0.0051 ± 0.0032 ps −1 , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This measurement improves on the current Δ m s precision by a factor of two. We combine this result with previous LHCb measurements to determine Δ m s  = 17.7656 ± 0.0057 ps −1 , which is the legacy measurement of the original LHCb detector.