Evidence for the Decay $Σ^{+} \to p μ^{+} μ^{-}$

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18 January 2005

journal article
research article
Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters

Vol. 94 (2) , 021801
https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.94.021801

Abstract

We report the first evidence for the decay

Σ^{+} \to p μ^{+} μ^{-}

from data taken by the HyperCP (E871) experiment at Fermilab. Based on three observed events, the branching ratio is

B (Σ^{+} \to p μ^{+} μ^{-}) = [{8.6}_{- 5.4}^{+ 6.6} (s t a t) \pm 5.5 (s y s t)] \times 10^{- 8}

. The narrow range of dimuon masses may indicate that the decay proceeds via a neutral intermediate state,

Σ^{+} \to p P^{0}, P^{0} \to μ^{+} μ^{-}

with a

P^{0}

mass of

214.3 \pm 0.5 M e V / c^{2}

and branching ratio

B (Σ^{+} \to p P^{0}, P^{0} \to μ^{+} μ^{-}) = [{3.1}_{- 1.9}^{+ 2.4} (s t a t) \pm 1.5 (s y s t)] \times 10^{- 8}

.

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