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Abstract Embedded Region 1 and 2 field‐aligned currents (FACs), intense FAC layers of mesoscale latitudinal width near the interface between large‐scale Region 1 and Region 2 FACs, are related to dramatic phenomena in the ionosphere such as discrete arcs, inverted‐V precipitation, and dawnside auroral polarization streams. These relationships suggest that the embedded FACs are potentially important for understanding ionospheric heating and magnetosphere‐ionosphere (M‐I) coupling and instabilities. Previous case studies of embedded FACs have led to the speculation that they may result from enhanced M‐I convection during active times. To explore this idea further, we investigate statistically their occurrence rates under a variety of geomagnetic conditions with a large event list constructed from 17 years of Defense Meteorological Satellite Program observations. The identification procedure is fully automated and explicit. The statistical results indicate that embedded Region 1 and 2 FACs are common, and that they have a higher chance to occur when the level of geomagnetic activity is higher (given by various indices), supporting the idea that they result from enhanced M‐I convection. 

We measure the branching fraction of the decay $B^{-}\to D^0\rho (770{)}^{-}$using data collected with the Belle II detector. The data contain 387 million $B\overline{B}$pairs produced in $e^{+}{e}^{-}$collisions at the $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(4S\right)$resonance. We reconstruct $8360\pm 180$decays from an analysis of the distributions of the $B^{-}$energy and the $\rho (770{)}^{-}$helicity angle. We determine the branching fraction to be $(0.939\pm 0.021\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)\pm 0.050\left(\mathrm{syst}\right))\%$, in agreement with previous results. Our measurement improves the relative precision of the world average by more than a factor of two. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

We report on a search for a resonance $X$decaying to a pair of muons in $e^{+}{e}^{-}\to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}X$events in the $0.212–9.000\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$mass range, using $178{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$of data collected by the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB collider at a center of mass energy of 10.58 GeV. The analysis probes two different models of $X$beyond the standard model: a $Z^{\prime }$vector boson in the $L_{\mu }-L_{\tau }$model and a muonphilic scalar. We observe no evidence for a signal and set exclusion limits at the 90% confidence level on the products of cross section and branching fraction for these processes, ranging from 0.046 fb to 0.97 fb for the $L_{\mu }-L_{\tau }$model and from 0.055 fb to 1.3 fb for the muonphilic scalar model. For masses below $6\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$, the corresponding constraints on the couplings of these processes to the standard model range from 0.0008 to 0.039 for the $L_{\mu }-L_{\tau }$model and from 0.0018 to 0.040 for the muonphilic scalar model. These are the first constraints on the muonphilic scalar from a dedicated search. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

We measure the tau-to-light-lepton ratio of inclusive $B$-meson branching fractions $R\left(X_{\tau /\ell }\right)\equiv \mathcal{B}(B\to X\tau \nu )/\mathcal{B}(B\to X\ell \nu )$, where $\ell$indicates an electron or muon, and thereby test the universality of charged-current weak interactions. We select events that have one fully reconstructed $B$meson and a charged lepton candidate from $189{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$of electron-positron collision data collected with the Belle II detector. We find $R\left(X_{\tau /\ell }\right)=0.228\pm 0.016\left(\mathrm{stat}\right)\pm 0.036\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)$, in agreement with standard-model expectations. This is the first direct measurement of $R\left(X_{\tau /\ell }\right)$. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

We search for the rare decay $B^{+}\to K^{+}\nu \overline{\nu }$in a $362{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$sample of electron-positron collisions at the $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(4S\right)$resonance collected with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB collider. We use the inclusive properties of the accompanying $B$meson in $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(4S\right)\to B\overline{B}$events to suppress background from other decays of the signal $B$candidate and light-quark pair production. We validate the measurement with an auxiliary analysis based on a conventional hadronic reconstruction of the accompanying $B$meson. For background suppression, we exploit distinct signal features using machine learning methods tuned with simulated data. The signal-reconstruction efficiency and background suppression are validated through various control channels. The branching fraction is extracted in a maximum likelihood fit. Our inclusive and hadronic analyses yield consistent results for the $B^{+}\to K^{+}\nu \overline{\nu }$branching fraction of $[2.7\pm 0.5(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.5(\mathrm{syst}\left)\right]\times {10}^{-5}$and $\left[{1.1}_{-0.8}^{+0.9}\right(\mathrm{stat}{)}_{-0.5}^{+0.8}\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)]\times {10}^{-5}$, respectively. Combining the results, we determine the branching fraction of the decay $B^{+}\to K^{+}\nu \overline{\nu }$to be $[2.3\pm 0.5(\mathrm{stat}{)}_{-0.4}^{+0.5}\left(\mathrm{syst}\right)]\times {10}^{-5}$, providing the first evidence for this decay at 3.5 standard deviations. The combined result is 2.7 standard deviations above the standard model expectation. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

We report a measurement of decay-time-dependent charge-parity ( $CP$) asymmetries in $B^0\to K_S^0{K}_S^0{K}_S^0$decays. We use $387\times {10}^6$ $B\overline{B}$pairs collected at the $\mathrm{\Upsilon }\left(4S\right)$resonance with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB asymmetric-energy electron-positron collider. We reconstruct 220 signal events and extract the $CP$-violating parameters $S$and $C$from a fit to the distribution of the decay-time difference between the two $B$mesons. The resulting confidence region is consistent with previous measurements in $B^0\to K_S^0{K}_S^0{K}_S^0$and $B^0\to \left(c\overline{c}\right)K^0$decays and with predictions based on the standard model. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

A<sc>bstract</sc> We report results from a study ofB^±→ DK^±decays followed byDdecaying to theCP-even final stateK⁺K⁻and CP-odd final state$$ {K}_S^0{\pi}^0 $$ $K_S^0{\pi }^0$, whereDis an admixture ofD⁰and$$ {\overline{D}}^0 $$ ${\overline{D}}^0$states. These decays are sensitive to the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa unitarity-triangle angleϕ₃. The results are based on a combined analysis of the final data set of 772×10⁶$$ B\overline{B} $$ $B\overline{B}$pairs collected by the Belle experiment and a data set of 198×10⁶$$ B\overline{B} $$ $B\overline{B}$pairs collected by the Belle II experiment, both in electron-positron collisions at the Υ(4S) resonance. We measure the CP asymmetries to be$$ \mathcal{A} $$ $A$_CP+= (+12.5±5.8±1.4)% and$$ \mathcal{A} $$ $A$_CP−= (−16.7±5.7±0.6)%, and the ratios of branching fractions to be$$ \mathcal{R} $$ $R$_CP+= 1.164±0.081±0.036 and$$ \mathcal{R} $$ $R$_CP−= 1.151±0.074±0.019. The first contribution to the uncertainties is statistical, and the second is systematic. The asymmetries$$ \mathcal{A} $$ $A$_CP+and$$ \mathcal{A} $$ $A$_CP−have similar magnitudes and opposite signs; their difference corresponds to 3.5 standard deviations. From these values we calculate 68.3% confidence intervals of (8.5^°<ϕ₃< 16.5^°) or (84.5^°<ϕ₃< 95.5^°) or (163.3^°<ϕ₃< 171.5^°) and 0.321 <r_B< 0.465.