First observation of KL -> pi+- e-+ nu e+ e-

TL;DR

This paper reports the first observation of the decay KL -> pi+- e-+ nu e+ e-, measuring its branching fraction and decay ratio, which agree with chiral perturbation theory predictions at order p^4 but not with leading order predictions.

Contribution

First experimental measurement of the KL -> pi+- e-+ nu e+ e- decay, confirming ChPT predictions at O(p^4) and providing detailed kinematic distributions.

Findings

Measured branching fraction: (1.285+-0.041)x10^-5

Decay ratio: [4.57+-0.04(stat)+-0.14(syst)]x10^-5

Kinematic distributions match ChPT O(p^4) predictions

Abstract

This letter is the first report of the KL -> pi+- e-+ nu e+ e- decay. Based on 19208+-144 events, we determine the branching fraction, B(KL -> pi+- e-+ nu e+ e-; Mee > 5 MeV/c^2, E*ee > 30 MeV) = (1.285+-0.041)x10^-5, and Gamma(Ke3ee; Mee >5 MeV/c^2) / Gamma(Ke3) = [4.57+-0.04(stat)+-0.14(syst)]x10^-5. This ratio agrees with a theoretical prediction based on chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) calculated to O(p^4). The measured kinematical distributions agree with those predicted by just ChPT O(p^4), but show significant disagreement with ones predicted by leading order ChPT.