Observation of the Dalitz Decay $η' \to γe^+e^-$

Abstract

We report the first observation of the Dalitz decay $η' \to γe^+e^-$, based on a data sample of 1.31 billion $J/ψ$ events collected with the BESIII detector. The $η'$ mesons are produced via the $J/ψ\to γη'$ decay process. The ratio $Γ(η' \to γe^+ e^-)/Γ(η'\toγγ)$ is measured to be $(2.13\pm0.09(\text{stat.})\pm0.07(\text{sys.}))\times10^{-2}$. This corresponds to a branching fraction ${\cal B}(η' \to γe^+e^-)= (4.69 \pm0.20(\text{stat.})\pm0.23(\text{sys.}))\times10^{-4}$. The transition form factor is extracted and different expressions are compared to the measured dependence on the $e^+e^-$ invariant mass. The results are consistent with the prediction of the Vector Meson Dominance model.

11 pages,7 figures