Abstract: A study of A(b)(0) baryon decays to the DpK(-) final state is presented based on a proton-proton collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb(-1) collected with the LHCb detector. Two A(b)(0) decays are considered, A(b)(0) -> DpK(-) with D -> K-pi(+) and D -> K+pi(-), where D represents a superposition of D-0 and over bar D-0 states. The latter process is expected to be suppressed relative to the former, and is observed for the first time. The ratio of branching fractions of the two decays is measured, and the CP asymmetry of the suppressed mode, which is sensitive to the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa angle gamma, is also reported.

Abstract: A study of the B+ -> (KSK+)-K-0 K-pi(+) and B+ -> (KSK+K+)-K-0 pi(-) decays is performed using proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV at the LHCb experiment. The (KSK)-K-0 pi invariant mass spectra from both decay modes reveal a rich content of charmonium resonances. New precise measurements of the eta(c) and eta(c)(2S) resonance parameters are performed and branching fraction measurements are obtained for B+ decays to eta(c), J/psi, eta(c)(2S) and chi(c1) resonances. In particular, the first observation and branching fraction measurement of B+ -> chi K-c0(0)pi(+) is reported as well as first measurements of the B+ -> (KK+K-)-K-0 pi(+) and B+ -> (KK+K+)-K-0 pi(-) branching fractions. Dalitz plot analyses of eta(c) -> (KSK)-K-0 pi and eta(c)(2S) -> (KSK)-K-0 pi decays are performed. A new measurement of the amplitude and phase of the K pi S-wave as functions of the K pi mass is performed, together with measurements of the K-0*(1430), K-0*(1950) and a(0)(1700) parameters. Finally, the branching fractions of chi(c1) decays to K* resonances are also measured.

Abstract: Abundant phenomenology suggests that strong decays from relatively low-excitation hadrons into other hadrons proceed by the creation of a light quark-antiquark pair with zero total angular momentum, the so called 3P0 mechanism originating from a scalar bilinear. Yet the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) interaction is perturbatively mediated by gluons of spin one, and QCD presents a chirally symmetric Lagrangian. Such scalar decay term must be spontaneously generated upon breaking chiral symmetry. We attempt to reproduce this with the help of the quark-gluon vertex in Landau gauge, whose nonperturbative structure has been reasonably elucidated in the last years, and insertions of a uniform, constant chromoelectric field. This is akin to Schwinger pair production in quantum electrodynamics (QED), and we provide a comparison with its two field-insertions diagram. We find that, the symmetry being cylindrical, the adequate quantum numbers to discuss the production are rather 3E0, 3E1, and 3110 as in diatomic molecules, and we indeed find a sizeable contribution of the third decay mechanism, which may give a rationale for the 3P0 phenomenology, as long as the momentum of the produced pair is at or below the scale of the bare or dynamically generated fermion mass. On the other hand, ultrarelativistic fermions are rather ejected with 3E1 quantum numbers. In QED, our results suggest that 3E0 dominates, whereas the constraint of producing a color singlet in QCD leads to 3110 dominance at sub-GeV momenta.