A search for massive neutral bosons in orthopositronium decay

Abstract

We have searched for an exotic decay of orthopositronium into a single photon and a short-lived neutral boson in the hitherto unexplored mass region above 900 $\mathrm{keV}/c^2$, by noting that this decay is one of few remaining candidates which could explain the discrepancy of the orthopositronium decay-rate. A high-resolution measurement of the associated photon energy spectrum was carried out with a germanium detector to search for a sharp peak from this two-body decay. Our negative result provides the upper-limits of\mbox{ }$2.0\times 10^{-4}$ on the branching ratio of such a decay in the mass region from 847 to 1013 $\mathrm{keV}/c^2$, and excludes the possibility of this decay mode explaining the discrepancy in the orthopositronium decay-rate.

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