Study of light-meson resonances decaying to K S 0 K π in the B → ( K S 0 K π ) K channels
A study is presented of B + → K S 0 K − π + K + and B + → K S 0 K + π − K + decays based on the analysis of proton-proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb − 1 . The K S 0 K π invariant-mass distributions of both B + decay modes show, in the m ( K S 0 K π ) < 1.85 GeV mass region, large activity which is resolved using an amplitude analysis. A simple model, where J P C amplitudes are described by multiple Breit-Wigner functions with appropriate angular distributions, provides a good description of the experimental data. In this approach a complex mixture of J P C = 0 − + , 1 + + and 1 + − amplitudes is observed that is dominated by η ( 1405 ) , η ( 1470 ) , η ( 1760 ) , f 1 ( 1285 ) , f 1 ( 1420 ) and h 1 ( 1405 ) resonances. The K S 0 K π Dalitz plots are dominated by asymmetric crossing K * K ¯ bands which are different for the two B + decay modes. This is due to a different interference pattern between the 1 + + and 1 + − amplitudes in the two channels. Branching fractions are measured for each resonant contribution. © 2025 CERN, for the LHCb Collaboration 2025 CERN