Model-independent study of structure in $B^+\to D^+D^-K^+$ decays

Abstract

The only anticipated resonant contributions to $B^+\to D^+D^-K^+$ decays are charmonium states in the $D^+D^-$ channel. A model-independent analysis, using LHCb proton-proton collision data taken at centre-of-mass energies of $\sqrt{s}=7,8,$ and $13$ TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 9 fb$^{-1}$, is carried out to test this hypothesis. The description of the data assuming that resonances only manifest in decays to the $D^+D^-$ pair is shown to be incomplete. This constitutes evidence for a new contribution to the decay, potentially one or more new charm-strange resonances in the $D^-K^+$ channel with masses around 2.9 GeV$/c^2$.