Measurement of the $ϕ\to π^0 e^+e^-$ transition form factor with the KLOE detector

Abstract

A measurement of the vector to pseudoscalar conversion decay $ϕ\to π^0 e^+e^-$ with the KLOE experiment is presented. A sample of $\sim 9500$ signal events was selected from a data set of 1.7 fb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} \sim m_ϕ$ collected at the DA$Φ$NE $e^+e^-$ collider. These events were used to obtain the first measurement of the transition form factor $| F_{ϕπ^0}(q^2) |$ and a new measurement of the branching ratio of the decay: $\rm{BR}\,(ϕ\to π^0 e^+e^-) = (\,1.35 \pm 0.05^{\,\,+0.05}_{\,\,-0.10}\,) \times 10 ^{-5}$. The result improves significantly on previous measurements and is in agreement with theoretical predictions.

13 pages, 4 figures; matches published version