Search for $η$ and $η^\prime\to π^+ e^- \barν_e +c.c.$ decays in $\jpsi \to ϕη$ and $ϕη^\prime$

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 $η$ and $η^\prime\toπ^+ e^- \barν_e +c.c.$ in $\jpsi \to ϕη$ and $ϕη^\prime$ are performed. The $ϕ$ signals, which are reconstructed in $K^+K^-$ final states, are used to tag $η$ and $η^\prime$ semileptonic decays. No signals are observed for either $η$ or $η^\prime$, 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 $\frac{{\mathcal B}(η\to π^+ e^- \barν_e +c.c.)}{{\mathcal B}(η\to \pip\pim\piz)}$ and $\frac{{\mathcal B}(η^\prime\to π^+ e^-\barν_e +c.c.)}{{\mathcal B}(η^\prime \to \pip\pimη)}$, respectively. These are the first upper limit values determined for $η$ and $η^\prime$ semileptonic weak decays.

8 pages, 4 figures; version accpeted for publication at PRD