Evidence of doubly OZI-suppressed decay $\eta_{c} \to \omega\phi$ in the radiative decay $J/\psi \to \gamma\eta_{c}$

Abstract

Using a sample of $(10087\pm44) \times 10^{6}$ $J/\psi$ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider, the first evidence for the doubly OZI-suppressed decay $\eta_{c} \to \omega\phi$ is reported with a significance of 4.0$\sigma$. The branching fraction of $\eta_{c} \to \omega\phi$ is measured to be $\mathcal{B}(\eta_{c} \to \omega\phi) = (3.86 \pm 0.92 \pm 0.62) \times 10^{-5}$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This result provides valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of charmonium decays, particularly for processes such as $\eta_{c} \to VV$ (where $V$ represents a vector meson).