Observation of the \({{{\Lambda }} _{\text {b}}^{{0}}} \rightarrow {{\text {J}/\uppsi }} {{{\Xi }} ^{{-}}} {{\text {K}} ^{{+}}} \) decay

Using proton–proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of \(140\hbox { fb}^{-1}\) collected by the CMS experiment at \(\sqrt{s}= 13\,\text {Te}\hspace{-.08em}\text {V} \), the \({{{\Lambda }} _{\text {b}}^{{0}}} \rightarrow {{\text {J}/\uppsi }} {{{\Xi }} ^{{-}}} {{\text {K}} ^{{+}}} \) decay is observed for the first time, with a statistical significance exceeding 5 standard deviations. The relative branching fraction, with respect to the \({{{\Lambda }} _{\text {b}}^{{0}}} \rightarrow {{{\uppsi }} ({2\textrm{S}})} {{\Lambda }} \) decay, is measured to be \(\mathcal {B}({{{\Lambda }} _{\text {b}}^{{0}}} \rightarrow {{\text {J}/\uppsi }} {{{\Xi }} ^{{-}}} {{\text {K}} ^{{+}}} )/\mathcal {B}({{{\Lambda }} _{\text {b}}^{{0}}} \rightarrow {{{\uppsi }} ({2\textrm{S}})} {{\Lambda }} ) = [3.38\pm 1.02\pm 0.61\pm 0.03]\%\), where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is related to the uncertainties in \(\mathcal {B}({{{\uppsi }} ({2\textrm{S}})} \rightarrow {{\text {J}/\uppsi }} {{{\uppi }} ^{{+}}} {{{\uppi }} ^{{-}}} )\) and \(\mathcal {B}({{{\Xi }} ^{{-}}} \rightarrow {{\Lambda }} {{{\uppi }} ^{{-}}} )\).