Abstract
The branching ratio of the rare decay π0 → e+e- has been measured in E799-II, a rare kaon decay experiment using the KTeV detector at Fermilab. We observed 275 candidate π0 → e+e- events, with an expected background of 21.4 ± 6.2 events which includes the contribution from Dalitz decays. We measured B[π0 → e+e-,(me+e-/mπ0)2 > 0.95] = (6.09 ± 0.40 ± 0.24) × 10-8, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic. This result is the first significant observation of the excess rate for this decay above the unitarity lower bound.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 922-925 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Physical review letters |
| Volume | 83 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 1 1999 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Physics and Astronomy