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Proposed Test of Charge-Conjugation Invariance in Positronium Decay

H. S. Mani* and Arthur Rich

  • The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

  • *Present address: Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.

Phys. Rev. D 4, 122 – Published 1 July, 1971

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.4.122

Abstract

If the electromagnetic interactions are invariant under charge conjugation, C, then singlet positronium (Ps) can only decay into an even number of photons, while triplet Ps can only decay into an odd number of photons. In this paper we consider a model Hamiltonian which violates C invariance but conserves parity. If λ is the coupling constant in the proposed C-noninvariant interaction, then the branching ratio of the forbidden decay, 1S134γ, to the allowed decay, 1S133γ, has been found to be FT4γ=1.2×105λ2.

An experimental upper limit on FT4γ would provide a novel check of C invariance in electromagnetic interactions, and would also yield new information on the e¯eγγγγ interaction. At present, indirect limits on FT4γ show it to be less than about 102. We are now working on an experiment which is designed to reduce this upper limit to 105-106. If successful, it will subject the proposed interaction, or any similar interaction leading to 1S134γ, to a stringent test. An outline of the experiment is included in this paper.

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