Strong and Electromagnetic J/psi and psi(2S) Decays into Pion and Kaon Pairs

TL;DR

This paper presents a model-independent analysis of J/psi and psi(2S) decays into pion and kaon pairs, highlighting the importance of interference effects and questioning previous assumptions about phase relations.

Contribution

It introduces a model-independent method to analyze electromagnetic and strong decay amplitudes without relying on SU(3) symmetry assumptions.

Findings

Interference between resonance and continuum affects branching ratios.

Large relative phase between decay amplitudes is model dependent.

Analysis challenges previous SU(3)-based assumptions.

Abstract

A combined analysis of the electromagnetic pion and kaon form factors in the neighborhood of J/psi and psi(2S) and of the strong decay amplitude of these resonances into kaons is presented. In the presence of a large relative phase between strong and electromagnetic resonance amplitudes the branching ratio, as measured in electron-positron annihilation, receives an additional contribution from the interference between resonance and continuum amplitude neglected in earlier papers. Our study is model independent and does not rely on the SU(3) symmetry assumptions used in earlier papers. We note that the large relative phase between strong and electromagnetic amplitudes observed in earlier analyses is model dependent and relies critically on the specific assumptions on SU(3) symmetry and breaking.