First search for exotic Z Boson decays into photons and neutral pions in hadron collisions.

A search for forbidden and exotic Z boson decays in the diphoton mass spectrum is presented for the first time in hadron collisions, based on data corresponding to 10.0 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity from proton-antiproton collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV collected by the CDF experiment. No evidence of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Aaltonen, T, Amerio, S, Amidei, D, Anastassov, A, Annovi, A, Antos, J, Apollinari, G, Appel, J, Arisawa, T, Artikov, A, Asaadi, J, Ashmanskas, W, Auerbach, B, Aurisano, A, Azfar, F, Badgett, W, Bae, T, Barbaro-Galtieri, A, Barnes, V, Barnett, B, Barria, P, Bartos, P, Bauce, M, Bedeschi, F, Behari, S
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2014
Description
Summary:A search for forbidden and exotic Z boson decays in the diphoton mass spectrum is presented for the first time in hadron collisions, based on data corresponding to 10.0 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity from proton-antiproton collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV collected by the CDF experiment. No evidence of signal is observed, and 95% credibility level Bayesian upper limits are set on the branching ratios of decays of the Z boson to a photon and neutral pion (which is detected as a photon), a pair of photons, and a pair of neutral pions. The observed branching ratio limits are 2.01 × 10(-5) for Z → π(0)γ, 1.46 × 10(-5) for Z → γγ, and 1.52 × 10(-5) for Z → π(0)π(0). The Z → π(0)γ and Z → γγ limits improve the most stringent results from other experiments by factors of 2.6 and 3.6, respectively. The Z → π(0)π(0) branching ratio limit is the first experimental result on this decay.