The LHCb experiment is dedicated to precision measurements of CP violation and rare decays of B hadrons at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN (Geneva). The initial configuration and expected performance of the detector and associated systems, as established by test beam measurements and simulation studies, is described.

We present a measurement of form-factor-independent angular observables in the decay B(0)→K*(892)(0)μ(+)μ(-). The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. Four observables are measured in six bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared q² in the range 0.1

The LHCb experiment has been taking data at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN since the end of 2009. One of its key detector components is the Ring-Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) system. This provides charged particle identification over a wide momentum range, from 2–100 GeV/c. The operation and control, software, and online monitoring of the RICH system are described. The particle identification performance is presented, as measured using data from the LHC. Excellent separation of hadronic particle types (π, K, p) is achieved.

The isospin asymmetries of B → Kµ + µ − and B → K * µ + µ − decays and the partial branching fractions of the B 0 → K 0 µ + µ − , B + → K + µ + µ − and B + → K * + µ + µ − decays are measured as functions of the dimuon mass squared, q 2 . The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb −1 from proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies of 7 TeV and 8 TeV in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The isospin asymmetries are both consistent with the Standard Model expectations. The three measured branching fractions favour lower values than their respective theoretical predictions, however they are all individually consistent with the Standard Model.

A search for the rare decays B 0 s ! þ À and B 0 ! þ À is performed at the LHCb experiment. The data analyzed correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1 fb À1 of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and 2 fb À1 at 8 TeV. An excess of B 0 s ! þ À signal candidates with respect to the background expectation is seen with a significance of 4.0 standard deviations. A time-integrated branching fraction of BðB 0 s ! þ À Þ ¼ ð2:9 þ1:1 À1:0 Þ Â 10 À9 is obtained and an upper limit of BðB 0 ! þ À Þ < 7:4 Â 10 À10 at 95% confidence level is set. These results are consistent with the standard model expectations.