A new algorithm for identifying the flavour of B⁰<inf>s</inf> mesons at LHCb

A new algorithm for the determination of the initial flavour of B ⁰ _s mesons is presented. The algorithm is based on two neural networks and exploits the b hadron production mechanism at a hadron collider. The first network is trained to select charged kaons produced in association with the B0 s meson. The second network combines the kaon charges to assign the B0 s flavour and estimates the probability of a wrong assignment. The algorithm is calibrated using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb ^-1 collected by the LHCb experiment in protonproton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV centre-of-mass energies. The calibration is performed in two ways: by resolving the B ⁰ _sB ⁰ _s flavour oscillations in B ⁰ _s →D ^- _s φ ⁺ decays, and by analysing flavour-specific B∗ _s2 (5840) ⁰→ B ⁺K ^- decays. The tagging power measured in B ⁰ _s → D ^- _s φ ⁺ decays is found to be (1:80 ± 0:19 (stat) ± 0:18 (syst))%, which is an improvement of about 50% compared to a similar algorithm previously used in the LHCb experiment.