Measurement of initial-state–final-state radiation interference in the processes e + e – → μ + μ – γ and e + e – → π + π – γ [Measurement of ISR-FSR interference in the processes e + e – → μ + μ – γ and e + e – → π + π – γ ]
Charge asymmetry in the processes e + e – → μ + μ – γ and e + e – → π + π – γ is measured using 232 fb –1 of data collected with the BABAR detector at e + e – center-of-mass energies near 10.58 GeV. An observable is introduced and shown to be very robust against detector asymmetries while keeping a large sensitivity to the physical charge asymmetry that results from the interference between initial- and final-state radiation (FSR). The asymmetry is determined as a function of the invariant mass of the final-state tracks from production threshold to a few GeV/c 2 . It is compared to the expectation from QED for e + e – → μ + μ – γ, and from theoretical models for e + e – → π + π – γ. A clear interference pattern is observed in e + e – → π + π – γ, particularly in the vicinity of the f 2 (1270) resonance. As a result, the inferred rate of lowest-order FSR production is consistent with the QED expectation for e + e – → μ + μ – γ, and is negligibly small for e + e – → π + π – γ.