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Aims.In this work, we derive upper limits on the strength of the near-core magnetic field in intermediate-mass stars, based on the suppression of high-orderg-modes by a critical magnetic field. We considered both purely poloidal magnetic fields and mixed geometries with the inclusion of a toroidal component. We examined how the upper limits on magnetic field strengths are affected by the degree and azimuthal order of the oscillations, as well as the magnetic field configuration. We compared our results with observations of red giant stars, which are the evolved counterparts of intermediate-mass main sequence stars, to assess the consistency of the field strengths across evolutionary stages. Methods.We considered twoγDoradus stars hosting high-orderg-modes and an evolvedδScuti star with mixed modes. These targets have prior mode identification from observations, enabling us to use these mode frequencies to probe the near-core region. We determined the best structural model from their stellar parameters through grid-based modeling with MESA. Frequencies for the best models were extracted using GYRE and matched to the observed modes. The critical magnetic fields for all calculated frequencies in our models were obtained from the Dedalus code and used to infer an upper limit on the near-core field strength. Results.We find an upper limit on the near-core radial field strength ofB_r≈ 130 kG andB_r≈ 13 kG, assuming a dipole field configuration, for the twoγDoradus stars KIC 3127996 and KIC 5876187, respectively. For 44 Tau, analysis of mixed modes yields a field strength ofB_r≈ 1771 kG. Different magnetic field configurations and mode degrees lead to different estimates. The results for the radial component of the magnetic field in the main sequenceγDoradus stars are consistent with estimates of magnetic field strengths in red giant stars that assume an internal field generated by a core dynamo, although the stronger of the two inferred magnetic fields may require some enhancement by a fossil field. The toroidal component does not affectg-modes significantly and is required to be more than 200 times stronger than the radial component to suppressg-modes. We find evidence of rotational modulation in the light curves of the twoγDoradus stars, which we use to demonstrate that the rotation rate is consistent with rigid body rotation in the envelope. 

UV spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry hold the key to understanding certain aspects of massive stars that are largely inaccessible (or exceptionally difficult) with optical or longer wavelength observations. As we demonstrate, this is especially true for the rapidly-rotating Be and Bn stars, owing to their high temperatures, geometric asymmetries, binary properties, evolutionary history, as well as mass ejection and disks (in the case of Be stars). UV spectropolarimetric observations are extremely sensitive to the photospheric consequences of rapid rotation (i.e. oblateness, temperature, and surface gravity gradients), far beyond the reach of optical wavelengths. Our polarized radiative-transfer modelling predicts that with low-resolution UV spectropolarimetry covering 120-300 nm, and with a reasonable SNR, the inclination angle of a rapid rotator can be determined to within 5 degrees, and the rotation rate to within 1%. The origin of rapid rotation in Be/n stars can be explained by either single-star or binary evolution, but their relative importance is largely unknown. Some Be stars have hot sub-luminous (sdO) companions, which at an earlier phase transferred their envelope (and with it mass and angular momentum) to the present-day rapid rotator. Although sdO stars are small and relatively faint, their flux peaks in the UV making this the optimal observational wavelength regime. Through spectral modelling of a wide range of simulated Be/n+sdO configurations, we demonstrate that high-resolution high-signal-to-noise ratio UV spectroscopy can detect an sdO star even when ∼1,000 times fainter in the UV than its Be/n star companion. This degree of sensitivity is needed to more fully explore the parameter space of Be/n+sdO binaries, which so far has been limited to about a dozen systems with relatively luminous sdO stars. We suggest that a UV spectropolarimetric survey of Be/n stars is the next step forward in understanding this population. Such a dataset would, when combined with population synthesis models, allow for the determination of the relative importance of the possible evolutionary pathways traversed by these stars, which is also crucial for understanding their future evolution and fate. 

The hot nine-component system HD 93206, which contains a gravitationally bounded eclipsing Ac1+Ac2 binary ( P  = 5.9987 d) and a spectroscopic Aa1+Aa2 ( P  = 20.734 d) binary can provide important insights into the origin and evolution of massive stars. Using archival and new spectra, and a rich collection of ground-based and space photometric observations, we carried out a detailed study of this object. We provide a much improved description of both short orbits and a good estimate of the mutual period of both binaries of about 14 500 d (i.e. 40 years). For the first time, we detected weak lines of the fainter component of the 6.0 d eclipsing binary in the optical region of the spectrum, measured their radial velocities, and derived a mass ratio of M Ac2 / M Ac1  = 1.29, which is the opposite of what was estimated from the International Ultraviolet explorer (IUE) spectra. We confirm that the eclipsing subsystem Ac is semi-detached and is therefore in a phase of large-scale mass transfer between its components. The Roche-lobe filling and spectroscopically brighter component Ac1 is the less massive of the two and is eclipsed in the secondary minimum. We show that the bulk of the H α emission, so far believed to be associated with the eclipsing system, moves with the primary O9.7 I component Aa1 of the 20.73 d spectroscopic binary. However, the weak emission in the higher Balmer lines seems to be associated with the accretion disc around component Ac2. We demonstrate that accurate masses and other basic physical properties including the distance of this unique system can be obtained but require a more sophisticated modelling. A first step in this direction is presented in the accompanying Paper II (Brož et al.). 

A<sc>bstract</sc> This paper presents a study of the charmless three-body decays$$ {B}_{(s)}^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{h}^{+}h{\prime}^{-} $$ $B_{\left(s\right)}^0\to K_S^0{h}^{+}h{\prime }^{-}$ (whereh⁽′⁾=π, K), using a sample ofppcollision data collected by the LHCb experiment during Runs 1 and 2 of the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb⁻¹. The decay$$ {B}_s^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{K}^{+}{K}^{-} $$ $B_s^0\to K_S^0{K}^{+}{K}^{-}$ is observed for the first time, and the following ratios of branching fractions are measured:$$ {\displaystyle \begin{array}{l}\frac{\mathcal{B}\left({B}^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{K}^{+}{K}^{-}\right)}{\mathcal{B}\left({B}^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{\pi}^{+}{\pi}^{-}\right)}=0.578\pm 0.007\pm 0.017,\\ {}\frac{\mathcal{B}\left({B}^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{K}^{\pm }{K}^{\mp}\right)}{\mathcal{B}\left({B}^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{\pi}^{+}{\pi}^{-}\right)}=0.1363\pm 0.0035\pm 0.051,\\ {}\begin{array}{l}\frac{\mathcal{B}\left({B}_s^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{\pi}^{+}{\pi}^{-}\right)}{\mathcal{B}\left({B}^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{\pi}^{+}{\pi}^{-}\right)}=0.269\pm 0.011\pm 0.015\pm 0.008,\\ {}\frac{\mathcal{B}\left({B}_s^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{K}^{+}{K}^{-}\right)}{\mathcal{B}\left({B}^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{\pi}^{+}{\pi}^{-}\right)}=0.0303\pm 0.0041\pm 0.0025\pm 0.0009,\\ {}\frac{\mathcal{B}\left({B}_s^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{K}^{\pm }{\pi}^{\mp}\right)}{\mathcal{B}\left({B}^0\to {K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0{\pi}^{+}{\pi}^{-}\right)}=1.818\pm 0.021\pm 0.031\pm 0.056,\end{array}\end{array}} $$ $\begin{array}{c}\frac{B\left(B^0\to K_S^0{K}^{+}{K}^{-}\right)}{B\left(B^0\to K_S^0{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}\right)}=0.578\pm 0.007\pm 0.017,\\ \frac{B\left(B^0\to K_S^0{K}^{\pm }{K}^{\mp }\right)}{B\left(B^0\to K_S^0{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}\right)}=0.1363\pm 0.0035\pm 0.051,\\ \begin{array}{c}\frac{B\left(B_s^0\to K_S^0{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}\right)}{B\left(B^0\to K_S^0{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}\right)}=0.269\pm 0.011\pm 0.015\pm 0.008,\\ \frac{B\left(B_s^0\to K_S^0{K}^{+}{K}^{-}\right)}{B\left(B^0\to K_S^0{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}\right)}=0.0303\pm 0.0041\pm 0.0025\pm 0.0009,\\ \frac{B\left(B_s^0\to K_S^0{K}^{\pm }{\pi }^{\mp }\right)}{B\left(B^0\to K_S^0{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}\right)}=1.818\pm 0.021\pm 0.031\pm 0.056,\end{array}\end{array}$ where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and due to knowledge of the ratio of hadronisation fractions of the$$ {B}_s^0 $$ $B_s^0$ andB⁰mesons, respectively. 

The time-dependent $CP$ asymmetry in $B^0\to J/\psi \rho (770{)}^0$ decays is measured using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $6{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ , collected with the LHCb detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV during the years 2015–2018. The $CP$ -violation parameters for this process are determined to be $2{\beta }_{c\overline{c}d}^{\mathrm{eff}}=0.710\pm 0.084\pm 0.051\mathrm{rad}$ and $\left|\lambda \right|=1.019\pm 0.034\pm 0.024$ , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. This constitutes the first observation of time-dependent $CP$ violation in $B^0\to J/\psi \rho (770{)}^0$ decays. Assuming approximate SU(3) flavor symmetry, these results are combined with the previous consistent LHCb measurement to set the most stringent constraint on the penguin contribution, $\mathrm{\Delta }{\varphi }_s$ , to the $CP$ -violating phase ${\varphi }_s$ in $B_s^0\to J/\psi \varphi \left(1020\right)$ decays, yielding $\mathrm{\Delta }{\varphi }_s=5.0\pm 4.6\mathrm{mrad}$ . 

Muon-electron universality is tested in $B^0\to K^{*0}{\ell }^{+}{\ell }^{-}$ decays, in the dilepton-invariant-mass region above the $\psi \left(2S\right)$ resonance. The analysis uses beauty mesons produced in proton-proton collisions recorded by the LHCb detector at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $9{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ . The ratio of branching fractions between the muon and electron channels $R_{K^{*0}}$ is measured to be ${1.08}_{-0.12}^{+0.14}\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)\pm 0.07\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)$ for a dilepton-invariant-mass squared above $14.0{\mathrm{GeV}}^2/c^4$ , consistent with the standard model prediction. This result represents the most precise measurement of $R_{K^{*0}}$ in this region and the first such measurement performed at a hadron collider. 

The first observation of the doubly charmed baryon ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_{cc}^{+}$ is reported through its decay to the ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}{K}^{-}{\pi }^{+}$ final state, with a statistical significance exceeding seven standard deviations. The observation is made using proton-proton collision data collected in 2024 with the LHCb Run 3 detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13.6 TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of $6.9{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ . The ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_{cc}^{+}$ mass is measured to be $3619.97\pm 0.83\pm {0.26}_{-1.30}^{+1.90}\mathrm{MeV}/c^2$ , where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is due to the unknown ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_{cc}^{+}$ lifetime, which is assumed to lie in the range 15–160 fs with a baseline value of 45 fs. The difference between the masses of the ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_{cc}^{+}$ and ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_{cc}^{++}$ baryons is determined to be $-1.77\pm 0.84\pm {0.15}_{-1.30}^{+1.90}\mathrm{MeV}/c^2$ . This is the first observation of a new particle made with the LHCb Run 3 detector. 

A search for the rare decay $B^{+}\to \overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}p{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$ is performed using proton-proton collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$ , corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $5.4{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ . An excess of events is found with respect to the background-only expectation, with a signal significance of 3.5 standard deviations, in the low invariant-mass region of $m\left(\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}p\right)<2.8\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ . The branching fraction is measured to be ${\mathcal{B}}_{\mathrm{low}}(B^{+}\to \overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}p{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-})=\left(1.70_{-0.56}^{+0.65}\right(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.17(\mathrm{syst})\pm 0.14(\mathrm{ext}\left)\right)\times {10}^{-8}$ , where the last uncertainty is due to external inputs on $\mathcal{B}(B^{+}\to J/\psi \overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}p)\times \mathcal{B}(J/\psi \to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-})$ . With no significant signal observed in the high $m\left(\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}p\right)$ region above $2.8\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ , an upper limit is set to be ${\mathcal{B}}_{\mathrm{high}}(B^{+}\to \overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}p{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-})<2.8\left(3.7\right)\times {10}^{-9}$ at the 90% (95%) confidence level. 

An analysis of the $B^0\to K^{*0}(\to K^{+}{\pi }^{-}){\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$ decay is presented using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $8.4{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ . The full set of $CP$ -averaged and $CP$ -asymmetric angular observables is determined in bins of the invariant mass squared of the dimuon system, as well as the branching fraction relative to the $B^0\to J/\psi (\to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-})K^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ decay. For the first time, the full set of observables pertaining to the $K^{+}{\pi }^{-}$ S-wave contribution to the final state are presented and consideration is given to effects arising from the mass of the muons. The extracted $CP$ -asymmetry observables show no significant deviations from zero. The measurements of the $CP$ -averaged observables and the branching fractions continue to exhibit the pattern of tensions with the standard model predictions that have been seen in previous analyses that use part of the dataset considered in this Letter. 

The decay $B^0\to {\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}{\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}}_c^{-}{K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0$ is studied at LHCb for the first time using proton-proton collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$ , corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $5.4{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ . The branching ratio relative to the decay $B^{+}\to {\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}{\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}}_c^{-}{K}^{+}$ is measured to be [ $\mathcal{B}(B^0\to {\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}{\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}}_c^{-}{K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0)]/[\mathcal{B}(B^{+}\to {\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}{\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}}_c^{-}{K}^{+})]=0.53\pm 0.05\pm 0.05$ where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. Evidence is found for contributions from two resonant states, ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_c(2923{)}^{+}$ and ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_c(2939{)}^{+}$ , in the ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}{K}_{\mathrm{S}}^0$ system. The two states show a significance of $3.9\sigma$ relative to the nonresonant hypothesis. These two ${\mathrm{\Xi }}_c^{+}$ states are consistent with being the isospin partners of the states observed in the ${\mathrm{\Lambda }}_c^{+}{K}^{-}$ system.