Search for the Decay Modes B^± → h^± τℓ

We present a search for the lepton flavor violating decay modes B^± → h^± τ ℓ (h=K, π, ℓ = e, μ) using the BABAR data sample, which corresponds to 472 × 10⁶ BB̄ pairs. The search uses events where one B meson is fully reconstructed in one of several hadronic final states. Using the momenta of the reconstructed B, h, and ℓ candidates, we are able to fully determine the τ four-momentum. The resulting τ candidate mass is our main discriminant against combinatorial background. We see no evidence for B ^± → h^± τ ℓ decays and set a 90% confidence level upper limit on each branching fraction at the level of a few times 10⁻⁵.