Search for $\eta$ and $\eta^\prime\to \pi^+ e^- \bar{\nu}_e +c.c.$ decays in $\jpsi \to \phi \eta$ and $\phi \eta^\prime$

TL;DR

This study searches for rare semileptonic decays of eta and eta' mesons in J/psi decays, setting the first upper limits on their branching ratios, with no signals observed.

Contribution

First upper limits established for eta and eta' semileptonic weak decays in J/psi decays using BESIII data.

Findings

No signals observed for eta and eta' semileptonic decays.

Upper limits set at 90% confidence level for decay ratios.

First constraints on these rare decay modes.

Abstract

Using a sample of 225.3 million $\jpsi$ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII $e^+e^-$ collider in 2009, searches for the decays of $\eta$ and $\eta^\prime\to\pi^+ e^- \bar{\nu}_e +c.c.$ in $\jpsi \to \phi \eta$ and $\phi\eta^\prime$ are performed. The $\phi$ signals, which are reconstructed in $K^+K^-$ final states, are used to tag $\eta$ and $\eta^\prime$ semileptonic decays. No signals are observed for either $\eta$ or $\eta^\prime$, and upper limits at the 90% confidence level are determined to be $7.3\times 10^{-4}$ and $5.0\times 10^{-4}$ for the ratios $\frac{{\mathcal B}(\eta\to \pi^+ e^- \bar{\nu}_e +c.c.)}{{\mathcal B}(\eta \to \pip\pim\piz)}$ and $\frac{{\mathcal B}(\eta^\prime\to \pi^+ e^-\bar{\nu}_e +c.c.)}{{\mathcal B}(\eta^\prime \to \pip\pim\eta)}$, respectively. These are the first upper limit values determined for $\eta$ and $\eta^\prime$ semileptonic weak decays.