High precision measurements of the differential cross sections for π0 photoproduction at forward angles for two nuclei, 12C and 208Pb, have been performed for incident photon energies of 4.9-5.5 GeV to extract the π0→γγ decay width. The experiment was done at Jefferson Lab using the Hall B photon tagger and a high-resolution multichannel calorimeter. The π0→γγ decay width was extracted by fitting the measured cross sections using recently updated theoretical models for the process. The resulting value for the decay width is Γ(π0→γγ)=7.82±0.14(stat)±0.17(syst) eV. With the 2.8% total uncertainty, this result is a factor of 2.5 more precise than the current Particle Data Group average of this fundamental quantity, and it is consistent with current theoretical predictions.
We derive the first terms in the amplitude of lepton pair production in the Coulomb fields of two relativistic heavy ions. Using the Sudakov technique, which very simplify the calculations in momentum space for the processes at high energies, we get the compact analytical expressions for differential cross section of the process under consideration in the lowest order in fine structure constant (Born approximation) valid for any momentum transfer and in a wide kinematics region for produced particles. Exploiting the same technique we consider the next terms of perturbation series (up to fourth order in fine structure constant) and investigate their energy dependence and limiting cases. It has been shown that taking in account all relevant terms in corresponding order one obtains the expressions which are gauge invariant and finite. We estimate the contribution of the Coulomb corrections to the total cross section and discuss the cancellations of the different terms which holds in the total cross section.
With the advent of new photon tagging facilities and novel experimental technologies it has become possible to perform photoproduction cross section measurements of pseudoscalar mesons on nuclei with * Corresponding author:gevs@jlab.org. On leave of absence from Yerevan Physics Institute 1 arXiv:0903.4715v1 [hep-ph]
The explicit breaking of the axial symmetry by quantum fluctuations gives rise to the so-called axial anomaly. This phenomenon is solely responsible for the decay of the neutral pion π0 into two photons (γγ), leading to its unusually short lifetime. We precisely measured the decay width Γ of the π0→ γγ process. The differential cross sections for π0 photoproduction at forward angles were measured on two targets, carbon-12 and silicon-28, yielding Γ(π0→ γγ)=7.798±0.056(stat.)±0.109(syst.) eV, where stat. denotes the statistical uncertainty and syst. the systematic uncertainty. We combined the results of this and an earlier experiment to generate a weighted average of Γ(π0→ γγ)=7.802±0.052(stat.)±0.105(syst.) eV. Our final result has a total uncertainty of 1.50% and confirms the prediction based on the chiral anomaly in quantum chromodynamics.
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