Search for rare decays of $D^0$ mesons into two muons

Abstract

A search for the very rare $D^0 \to \mu^+\mu^-$ decay is performed using data collected by the LHCb experiment in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 7$, 8 and $13~\rm{TeV}$, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $9~\rm{fb^{-1}}$. The search is optimised for $D^0$ mesons from $D^{\ast+}\to D^0\pi^+$ decays but is also sensitive to $D^0$ mesons from other sources. No evidence for an excess of events over the expected background is observed. An upper limit on the branching fraction of this decay is set at $\mathcal{B}(D^0 \to \mu^+\mu^-) < 3.1 \times 10^{-9}$ at a $90\%$ CL. This represents the world's most stringent limit, constraining models of physics beyond the Standard Model.