Observation of the helicity-selection-rule suppressed decay of the χ c 2 charmonium state
The decays of χ c 2 → K + K - π 0 , K S K ± π ∓ , and π + π - π 0 are studied with the ψ ( 3686 ) data samples collected with the Beijing Spectrometer (BESIII). For the first time, the branching fractions of χ c 2 → K*$\bar{K}$ , χ c 2 → $a_2^±$(1320)π ∓ /$a_2^0$(1320)π 0 , and χ c 2 → ρ( 770 ) ± π ∓ are measured. Here, K*$\bar{K}$ denotes both K* ± K ∓ and its isospin-conjugated process K* 0 $\bar{K}$ 0 +c.c., and K* denotes the resonances K*(892), $K_2^*$(1430), and $K_3^*$(1780). The observations indicate a strong violation of the helicity selection rule in χ c 2 decays into vector and pseudoscalar meson pairs. The measured branching fractions of χ c 2 → K*(892)$\bar{K}$ are more than ten times larger than the upper limit of χ c 2 → ρ ( 770 ) ± π ∓ , which is so far the first direct observation of a significant U -spin symmetry breaking effect in charmonium decays.