Abstract
The branching fraction of the rare decay B 0 → K ∗0 e + e − in the dilepton mass region from 30 to 1000 MeV/c 2 has been measured by the LHCb experiment, using pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1, at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The decay mode B 0 → J/ψ (e + e −)K ∗0 is utilized as a normalization channel. The branching fraction B(B0→K∗0e+e−) is measured to be B(B0→K∗0e+e−)30−1000MeV/c2 =(3.1+0.9−0.8+0.2−0.3±0.2)×10−7, where the first error is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third comes from the uncertainties on the B 0 → J/ψ K ∗0 and J/ψ → e + e − branching fractions.