Observation of double radiative capture on pionic hydrogen

Phys Rev Lett. 2002 Dec 16;89(25):252501. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.252501. Epub 2002 Dec 4.

Abstract

We report the first observation of double radiative capture on pionic hydrogen. The experiment was conducted at the TRIUMF cyclotron using the RMC spectrometer and detected gamma-ray coincidences following pi(-) stops in liquid hydrogen. We found the branching ratio for double radiative capture to be [3.05+/-0.27(stat)+/-0.31(syst)]x10(-5). The measured branching ratio and angle-energy distributions support the theoretical prediction of a dominant contribution from the pipi-->gammagamma annihilation mechanism.