Search for the decays $\eta^{\prime} \to e^+e^-$ and $\eta \to e^+e^-$ at the VEPP-2000 $e^+e^-$ collider

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for rare decays of eta and eta prime mesons into electron-positron pairs at the VEPP-2000 collider, setting new upper limits and assessing experimental sensitivity.

Contribution

It presents the first upper limit on the decay width of $ ext{eta prime} o e^+e^-$ and evaluates the potential sensitivity for detecting $ ext{eta} o e^+e^-$ decays with the SND detector.

Findings

Upper limit $ ext{Gamma}_{ ext{eta'} o e^+e^-}<0.002$ eV at 90\% CL.

No background events observed for $e^+e^- o ext{eta}$ with $ ext{eta} o ext{3} ext{pi}^0$.

Sensitivity to $B( ext{eta} o e^+e^-)$ of 10$^{-6}$ achievable in two weeks.

Abstract

A search for the rare decay $\eta^{\prime} \to e^+e^-$ has been performed with the SND detector at the VEPP-2000 $e^+e^-$ collider. The inverse reaction $e^+e^- \to \eta^{\prime}$ and $\eta^{\prime}$ five decay chains have been used for this search. The upper limit $\Gamma_{\eta^{\prime} \to e^+e^-}<0.002$ eV at the 90\% confidence level has been set. A sensitivity of SND in a search for $\eta \to e^+e^-$ decay has been studied. For this perpose we have analyzed a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 108 nb$^{-1}$ collected in the center-of-mass energy range 520-580 MeV. There are no background events for the reaction $e^+e^- \to \eta$ with decay $\eta \to \pi^0\pi^0\pi^0$ have been found. In the absence of background, a sensitivity to $B(\eta \to e^+e^-)$ of 10$^{-6}$ can be reached during two weeks of VEPP-2000 operation.