Exotic muon decays and the KARMEN anomaly

Physics – High Energy Physics – High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

12 pages, LaTex, 4 eps figures included, 3 references added. Submitted to Phys.Lett.B

Scientific paper

10.1016/S0370-2693(98)00782-5

An anomaly in time distribution of neutrinos from the ISIS pulsed beam stop source observed by the KARMEN collaboration is discussed. We show that the anomaly can be interpreted as a superposition of two exponentials, both having time constants consistent with the $\mu^{+}$ lifetime of 2.2 $\mu s$. % and, therefore, It is assumed that they both originate from muon decays at rest. One of them describes the time distribution of the prompt neutrino events, while the other describes the time distribution of events from delayed decays of slowly moving ($\beta \simeq 0.02$) particles in the KARMEN calorimeter. We propose here that these particles are produced in exotic decays of positive muons $\mu^{+}\to e^{+} + X$, resulting in the second exponential time distribution shifted by the time of flight with respect to the time distribution of neutrino events. This model gives an aceptable fit to the KARMEN data if $X$ has a mass of 103.9 MeV. The possible decay modes of this new massive neutral particle are discussed. This hypothesis can be experimentally tested in the near future by studying the low energy part of the $e^{+}$ spectrum in the $\mu^{+}$ decays.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Exotic muon decays and the KARMEN anomaly does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Exotic muon decays and the KARMEN anomaly, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Exotic muon decays and the KARMEN anomaly will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-474229

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.