Observation of B+ -> p pbar pi+, B0 -> p pbar K0, and B+ -> p pbar K*+

Abstract

We report the first observation of a b -> u type charmless baryonic B decay, B+ -> p pbar pi+, as well as b -> s type B0 -> p pbar K0 and B+ -> p pbar K*+ decays. The analysis is based on a 78fb^{-1} data sample recorded on the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at KEKB. We find BF(B+ -> p pbar pi+) = (3.06^{+0.73}_{-0.62} \pm 0.37)*10^{-6}, BF(B0 -> p pbar K0) =(1.88^{+0.77}_{-0.60} \pm 0.23)*10^{-6}, and BF(B+ -> p pbar K*+) = (10.3^{+3.6 + 1.3}_{-2.8 -1.7})*10^{-6}. We also update BF(B+ -> p pbar K+) = (5.66^{+0.67}_{-0.57} \pm 0.62)* 10^{-6}, and present an upper limit on BF(B0 -> p pbar K*0) at the 90% confidence level. A common feature of the observed decay modes is threshold peaking in baryon pair invariant mass.