Measurement of the K_L -> e+ e- e+ e- Decay Rate
A. Lai, et al. (NA48 Collaboration)
TL;DR
This paper reports a precise measurement of the decay rate of the long-lived neutral K meson into four electrons, using data from the NA48 experiment at CERN, providing a new estimate of its branching ratio.
Contribution
The study presents the first measurement of the K_L -> e+ e- e+ e- decay rate with high statistical significance and detailed uncertainty analysis.
Findings
Branching ratio of (3.67 +- 0.32(stat) +- 0.23(sys) +- 0.08(norm)) x 10^-8
132 observed decay events with negligible background
Total kaons analyzed: 5.1 x 10^10
Abstract
The decay rate of the neutral long-lived K meson into the e+ e- e+ e- final state has been measured with the NA48 detector at the CERN SPS. Using data collected in 1999, a total of 132 events has been observed with negligible background. The total number of kaons was determined to be 5.1 x 10^10. This observation corresponds to a preliminary branching ratio of Gamma(K_L -> e+ e- e+ e-)/Gamma(K_L -> all) = (3.67 +- 0.32(stat) +- 0.23(sys) +- 0.08(norm)) x 10^-8, where the first error is statistical, the second systematic, and the third error is due to the uncertainty in the normalization.
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