Experimental determination of the Dalitz plot for positronium decay using the J-PET detection system

Abstract

We present the first measurements of the Dalitz plot for ortho-positronium annihilation to three photons. Our measurements, accurate to about 3% statistical and 2-3% systematic uncertainty in angular representation over almost the entire available phase space, were performed using the Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomograph (J-PET) based on organic scintillator strips. Until now, the Dalitz plot for the three-body positronium decay has been poorly explored. The new measurements presented here are consistent with both the leading-order and next-to-leading order QED predictions for the Dalitz plot.