Evidence for the decay B-0 -> p(p)over-bar pi(0)

Abstract

We report a search for the charmless baryonic decay B-0 -> p (p) over bar pi(0) with a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 711 fb(-1) containing (772 +/- 10) x 10(6) B (B) over bar pairs. The data were collected by the Belle experiment running on the Upsilon(4S) resonance at the KEKB e(+) e(-) collider. We measure a branching fraction B(B-0 -> p (p) over bar pi(0)) = (5.0 +/- 1.8 +/- 0.6) x 10(-7), where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The signal has a significance of 3.1 standard deviations and constitutes the first evidence for this decay mode. We also search for the intermediate two-body decays B-0 -> Delta(+)(p) over bar and B-0 ->(Delta) over bar (-) p, and set an upper limit on the branching fraction, B(B-0 -> Delta(+)(p) over bar ) + B(B-0 ->(Delta) over bar (-) p) < 1.6 x 10(-6) at 90% confidence level.