Measurement of the Branching Ratio for Pion Beta Decay

Abstract

Positive pions at 175 Mev/c were used to investigate the decay process pi /sup +/ yields pi /sup 0/ + e/sup +/ + nu . The experiment was designed to detect the two pi /sup 0/ gamma rays, the positron, and the positron annihilation radiation. Ten events were identified as the desired process and analyzed. The braching ratio was determined to be 2.0 plus or minus 0.6 x 10/ sup -8/, which is comparable with the prediction of the conserved vector current hypothesis. (H.D.R.)