Search for $B$ meson decays to multimuon final states

Abstract

A search for decays of $B$ mesons to final states with four or six muons using $pp$ collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $5.4~\text{fb}^{-1}$ is presented. The decay modes of interest are $B_{(s)}^0 \rightarrow \mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-$, $B^+ \rightarrow K^+\mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-$, $B_{(s)}^0 \rightarrow \mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-$ and $B^+ \rightarrow K^+\mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-\mu^+\mu^-$, proceeding via both prompt and long-lived intermediate particles. No evidence for any of the signal modes is found, and upper limits spanning the range of $0.6\times10^{-9}$ to $5.4\times10^{-7}$ at the $95\%$ confidence level are set on their branching fractions, depending on the intermediate-particle masses and lifetimes. In addition, mass-integrated limits across the intermediate-particle lifetime ranges considered in this analysis are determined.