Studies of rare b-quark penguin decays through branching fraction measurements of baryonic decay modes

Branching fraction measurements of rare b-quark decays are very sensitive to new physics. The b --> s tau+ tau- process can proceed via a loop-level electroweak penguin decay. Previous analyses measuring branching fractions of mesonic decays have struggled with large background contributions; baryonic decay modes may offer fewer problems with background, allowing a measurement to be taken, and hence the motivation for the project.