Search for $\Delta S=2$ nonleptonic hyperon decays $\Omega^-\to\Sigma^{0}\pi^{-}$ and $\Omega^-\to nK^{-}$

Abstract

Using $(27.12 \pm 0.14) \times 10^{8}$ $\psi(3686)$ events collected by the BESIII detector at the center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 3.686$ GeV, we search for the first time for two nonleptonic hyperon decays that change strangeness by two units, $\Omega^-\to\Sigma^{0}\pi^-$ and $\Omega^-\to nK^{-}$. No significant signal is observed. The upper limits on their decay branching fractions are determined to be $\mathcal{B}(\Omega^-\to\Sigma^{0}\pi^-) < 5.4\times 10^{-4}$ and $\mathcal{B}(\Omega^-\to nK^{-}) < 2.4\times 10^{-4}$ at the $90\%$ confidence level.