Observation of the $B^+ \rightarrow J/\psi \eta^{\prime} K^+$ decay

Abstract

The $B^+ \rightarrow J/\psi \eta^{\prime} K^+$ decay is observed for the first time using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 9fb$^{-1}$. The branching fraction of this decay is measured relative to the known branching fraction of the $B^+ \rightarrow \psi(2S) K^+$ decays and found to be $$ \frac{\mathcal{B}( B^+ \rightarrow J/\psi \eta^{\prime}K^+)}{\mathcal{B}( B^+ \rightarrow \psi(2S)K^+)} = \left(4.91\pm 0.47\pm0.29\pm0.07\right)\times10^{-2}, $$ where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic and the third is related to external branching fractions. A first look at the $J/\psi\eta^{\prime}$ mass distribution is performed and no signal of intermediate resonances is observed.