Observation of $h_{c}$ radiative decay $h_{c} \rightarrow γη'$ and evidence for $h_{c} \rightarrow γη$

Abstract

A search for radiative decays of the $P$-wave spin singlet charmonium resonance $h_c$ is performed based on $4.48 \times 10^{8}$ $ψ'$ events collected with the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII storage ring. Events of the reaction channels $h_{c} \rightarrow γη'$ and $γη$ are observed with a statistical significance of $8.4 σ$ and $4.0 σ$, respectively, for the first time. The branching fractions of $h_{c} \rightarrow γη'$ and $h_{c} \rightarrow γη$ are measured to be $\mathcal{B}(h_{c} \rightarrow γη')=(1.52 \pm 0.27 \pm 0.29)\times10^{-3}$ and $\mathcal{B}(h_{c} \rightarrow γη)=(4.7 \pm 1.5 \pm 1.4)\times10^{-4}$, respectively, where the first errors are statistical and the second are systematic uncertainties.

7 pages, 2 figures