Measurement of the rare decay π0→e+e-

  • E. Abouzaid
  • , M. Arenton
  • , A. R. Barker
  • , L. Bellantoni
  • , A. Bellavance
  • , E. Blucher
  • , G. J. Bock
  • , E. Cheu
  • , R. Coleman
  • , M. D. Corcoran
  • , B. Cox
  • , A. R. Erwin
  • , C. O. Escobar
  • , A. Glazov
  • , A. Golossanov
  • , R. A. Gomes
  • , P. Gouffon
  • , K. Hanagaki
  • , Y. B. Hsiung
  • , H. Huang
  • D. A. Jensen, R. Kessler, K. Kotera, A. Ledovskoy, P. L. McBride, E. Monnier, K. S. Nelson, H. Nguyen, R. Niclasen, D. G. Phillips, H. Ping, X. R. Qi, E. J. Ramberg, R. E. Ray, M. Ronquest, E. Santos, J. Shields, W. Slater, D. Smith, N. Solomey, E. C. Swallow, P. A. Toale, R. Tschirhart, C. Velissaris, Y. W. Wah, J. Wang, H. B. White, J. Whitmore, M. J. Wilking, B. Winstein, R. Winston, E. T. Worcester, M. Worcester, T. Yamanaka, E. D. Zimmerman, R. F. Zukanovich

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

110 Scopus citations

Abstract

The branching ratio of the rare decay π0→e+e- has been measured precisely, using the complete data set from the KTeV E799-II experiment at Fermilab. We observe 794 candidate π0→e+e- events using KL→3π0 as a source of tagged π0s. The expected background is 52.7±11.2 events, predominantly from high e+e- mass π0→e+e-γ decays. We have measured B(π0→e+e-,(me+e-/mπ0)2>0.95)=(6.44±0. 25stat±0.22syst)×10-8, which is above the unitary bound from π0→γγ and within the range of theoretical expectations from the standard model.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number012004
JournalPhysical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
Volume75
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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