Search for CP violation in D s + $$ {D}_{(s)}^{+} $$ → K − K + K + decays

Abstract A search for direct CP violation in the Cabibbo-suppressed decay D s + $$ {D}_s^{+} $$ → K − K + K + and in the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decay D + → K − K + K + is reported. The analysis is performed with data collected by the LHCb experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.6 fb −1. The search is conducted by comparing the D s + $$ {D}_{(s)}^{+} $$ and D s − $$ {D}_{(s)}^{-} $$ Dalitz-plot distributions through a model-independent binned technique, based on fits to the K − K + K + invariant-mass distributions, with a total of 0.97 (1.27) million D s + $$ {D}_s^{+} $$ (D +) signal candidates. The results are given as p-values for the hypothesis of CP conservation and are found to be 13.3% for the D s + $$ {D}_s^{+} $$ → K − K + K + decay and 31.6% for the D + → K − K + K + decay. No evidence for CP violation is observed in these decays.