Radiative Decay of the NeutralKMeson:K0→γ+γ

Abstract

The consequences of the particle mixture theory of the neutral $K$ meson are investigated for the rare radiative decay mode: $K^0\to \gamma +\gamma$. The two photon decay rates of the ${K_1}^0$, ${K_2}^0$ mesons are estimated as ≈1.3×${10}^5$ ${\sec }^{-1\mathrm{}}$ (Cabibbo and Ferrari) and $\approx \left\{\frac{1.6\times {10}^5}{\left(\frac{{g_{\Sigma \mathrm{nK}}}^2}{4\pi }\right)}\right\}$ ${\sec }^{-1\mathrm{}}$ ≈${10}^5$ ${\sec }^{-1\mathrm{}}$. It is shown that a time-dependent net circular polarization of each of the two photons results from the interference between the ${K_1}^0$ and ${K_2}^0$ channels feeding the $2\gamma$ state. The correlated linear polarizations of the two photons also exhibit a similar time-dependent behavior. The possibility of experimental detection of the effects discussed, from which the sign as well as the magnitude of the ${K_1}^0$, ${K_2}^0$ mass difference can be determined, is very briefly explored.