Search for three body pion decays $π^+{\to}l^+νX$
hep-ex
/ Authors
A. Aguilar-Arevalo, M. Aoki, M. Blecher, D. I. Britton, D. vom Bruch, D. A. Bryman, S. Chen, J. Comfort, S. Cuen-Rochin, L. Doria
and 14 more authors
P. Gumplinger, A. Hussein, Y. Igarashi, S. Ito, S. Kettell, L. Kurchaninov, L. S. Littenberg, C. Malbrunot, R. E. Mischke, T. Numao, D. Protopopescu, A. Sher, T. Sullivan, D. Vavilov
/ Abstract
The three body pion decays $π^+{\rightarrow}l^+νX~(l=e,μ)$, where $X$ is a weakly interacting neutral boson, were searched for using the full data set from the PIENU experiment. An improved limit on $Γ(π^+{\to}e^+νX)/Γ(π^+{\to}μ^+ν_μ)$ in the mass range $0<m_X<120$ MeV/$c^2$ and a first result for $Γ(π^+{\to}μ^+νX)/Γ(π^+{\to}μ^+ν_μ)$ in the region $0<m_X<33.9$ MeV/$c^2$ were obtained. The Majoron-neutrino coupling model was also constrained using the current experimental result of the $π^+{\to}e^+ν_e(γ)$ branching ratio.