NA48/2 studies of rare decays

Abstract

The first observation of about 2000 candidates, with a background contamination below 3%, of the rare decay $K^{\pm} \to \pi^{\pm}\pi^{0}e^+e^-$ is reported by the NA48/2 experiment. The preliminary branching ratio in the full kinematic region is obtained to be: ${\cal B}(K^{\pm} \to \pi^{\pm}\pi^{0}e^+e^-)=(4.06\pm0.17)\cdot10^{-6}$ by analyzing the data collected in 2003. A sample of $4.687\times 10^6$ $K^\pm\to\pi^\pm\pi^0_D$, decay candidates with a negligible background contamination collected in 2003-04 is analyzed to search for the dark photon ($A'$) via the decay chain $K^\pm\to\pi^\pm\pi^0$, $\pi^0\to\gamma A'$, $A'\to e^+e^-$. No signal is observed, and preliminary limits in the plane dark photon mixing parameter $\varepsilon^2$ versus its mass $m_{A'}$ are reported.