First observation of the rare $B^{+}\to D^{+} K^{+} \pi^{-}$ decay

Abstract

The $B^{+}\to D^{+} K^{+} \pi^{-}$ decay is observed in a data sample corresponding to $3.0\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$ of $pp$ collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011 and 2012. The signal significance is $8\,\sigma$ and the branching fraction is measured to be ${\cal B}\left(B^{+}\to D^{+} K^{+} \pi^{-}\right) = (5.31 \pm 0.90 \pm 0.48 \pm 0.35)\times 10^{-6}$, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic and due to the normalisation mode $B^{+}\to D^{-} K^{+} \pi^{+}$, respectively. The Dalitz plot appears to be dominated by broad structures. Angular distributions are exploited to search for quasi-two-body contributions from $B^{+}\to D^{*}_{2}(2460)^{0}K^{+}$ and $B^{+}\to D^{+} K^{*}(892)^{0}$ decays. No significant signals are observed and upper limits are set on their branching fractions.