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η and η′ Production in J/ψ Radiative Decays from Quantum Chromodynamics

Mischa Batelaan1,*, Jozef J. Dudek1,2,†, and Robert G. Edwards2,‡ (for the Hadron Spectrum Collaboration)

  • *Contact author: mbatelaan@wm.edu
  • †Contact author: dudek@jlab.org
  • ‡Contact author: edwards@jlab.org
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 161904 – Published 16 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/tdk2-bk8w

Abstract

We present a first principles calculation within quantum chromodynamics (QCD) of the radiative decays of the J/ψ into the light pseudoscalar mesons η and η′. Within a lattice computation we obtain the transition form factors as a function of photon virtuality from the timelike region, accessible experimentally via the “Dalitz” decay J/ψ→e+e−η(′), through to the real photon point corresponding to J/ψ→γη(′). This is the first calculation in lattice QCD with two (heavier than physical) degenerate flavors of light quark and a heavier strange quark, in which the η′ appears as the first excited state with pseudoscalar isoscalar quantum numbers. We access it reliably by using variationally optimized operators, the use of which also improves the purity of the J/ψ and η signals, reducing systematic uncertainties. High quality results at a large number of kinematic points are obtained in a typically noisy disconnected process by using a novel correlator averaging procedure. Our results show the expected enhanced production of the η′ over the η in this process, and suggest that the demonstrated lattice technology is suitable for future calculations considering processes in which light meson resonances are produced.

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η and η′ meson production in J/ψ radiative decays from lattice QCD

Mischa Batelaan, Jozef J. Dudek, and Robert G. Edwards (for the Hadron Spectrum Collaboration)
Phys. Rev. D 112, 074505 (2025)

Article Text

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 161904– Published 16 October, 2025
  • Received 24 June 2025
  • Accepted 16 September 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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