Evidence for the Direct Two-Photon Transition from $ψ(3686)$ to $J/ψ$

Abstract

The two-photon transition $ψ(3686)\toγγJ/ψ$ is studied in a sample of 106 million $ψ(3686)$ decays collected by the BESIII detector. The branching fraction is measured to be $(3.1\pm0.6(\unit{stat})^{+0.8}_{-1.0}(\unit{syst})) \times10^{-4}$ using $J/ψ\to e^+e^-$ and $J/ψ\toμ^+μ^-$ decays, and its upper limit is estimated to be $4.5\times10^{-4}$ at the 90% conference level. This work represents the first measurement of a two-photon transition among charmonium states. The orientation of the $ψ(3686)$ decay plane and the $J/ψ$ polarization in this decay are also studied. In addition, the product branching fractions of sequential $E1$ transitions $ψ(3686)\toγχ_{cJ}, χ_{cJ}\toγJ/ψ(J=0,1,2)$ are reported.

6 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables