TY - JOUR
T1 - Constraints on short-lived axions from the decay π+→e+e-e+ν
AU - Krauss, Lawrence M.
AU - Wise, Mark B.
N1 - Funding Information:
Recently, as a result of the observation by the EPOS Collaboration at GSI \[1\]o f narrow peaks in the e ÷ e-spectrum in a variety of heavy ion collisions, there has been a great deal of interest in the possible existence of axions in the relevant mass range (-1.8 MeV). While the standard axion \[2,3\] is convincingly ruled out \[4,5\], a seemingly viable short-lived axion variant has been proposed which does not couple to heavy quarks \[6,7\], and thus avoids constraints from observations of the radiative decay of heavy vector mesons \[4,5\]. As described in ref. \[5\]i f such an axion exists, it could have measurable consequences in a variety of experiments, including beam dumps, K decays, and ~r decays. Here we examine in detail the decay ~-+~ ae+~, where a is a short-lived axion. This 1 Also Visiting Scientist, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. e Visiting scientist Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. 3 Research supported in part by DOE contract ~DE-AC02-76ER03075 and by a Presidential Young Investigator Award. 4 Work supported in part by the DOE under contracts DE-AC03-81-ER40050 and DE-FG03-84ER40172 and by an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship.
PY - 1986/8/28
Y1 - 1986/8/28
N2 - Using chiral lagrangian techniques an expected branching ratio of 3×10-6 (mu/md)(ma/1.8 MeV)2 is calculated for the decay mode π+ → ae+ν, where a is a recently proposed short-lived axion variant, and thus earlier estimates of this rate are corrected. A recent measurement limits the decay π+ → e+e-e+ ν at the 10-10 level, which clearly rules out such an axion.
AB - Using chiral lagrangian techniques an expected branching ratio of 3×10-6 (mu/md)(ma/1.8 MeV)2 is calculated for the decay mode π+ → ae+ν, where a is a recently proposed short-lived axion variant, and thus earlier estimates of this rate are corrected. A recent measurement limits the decay π+ → e+e-e+ ν at the 10-10 level, which clearly rules out such an axion.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=46149130307&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=46149130307&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0370-2693(86)90201-7
DO - 10.1016/0370-2693(86)90201-7
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:46149130307
SN - 0370-2693
VL - 176
SP - 483
EP - 485
JO - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
JF - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
IS - 3-4
ER -