A measurement of the decay rate for the process kaon(L) going to positive muon negative muon

• Main Author: Kenney, Christopher John
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: W&M ScholarWorks 1989
• Subjects: Physics
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539623786; https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3683&context=etd

A sample of 87 events of the GIM suppressed decay K$\sb{\rm L} \to \mu\sp+\mu\sp-$ were observed in an experiment performed in 1988 at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. Concurrently, 8,887 examples of the CP-violating decay K$\sb{\rm L} \to \pi\sp+\pi\sp-$ were also seen. The apparatus consisted of a double-magnet spectrometer as well as electromagnetic and muon detector systems. From the previously measured branching ratio for K$\sb{\rm L} \to \pi\sp+\pi\sp-$ and the different instrumental acceptances of the detector for the two decays, the data sample was normalized to the effective number of K$\sb{\rm L}$ decays observed. A value for the ratio (K$\sb{\rm L} \to \mu\sp+\mu\sp-)$/(K$\sb{\rm L} \to$ anything) of (5.7 $\pm$ 0.6(stat.) $\pm$ 0.3(syst.)) $\times$ 10$\sp{-9}$ was obtained.