Observation of $η_c(1S)\to Σ^0\bar Σ^0$ and search for $h_c(1P)\to Σ^0\bar Σ^0$ via $ψ(3686)$ transitions

Abstract

Using $(2712.4 \pm 14.3) \times 10^6~ψ(3686)$ events collected by the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII collider, the hadronic decay $η_{c}\toΣ^{0}\bar{Σ^{0}}$ is observed for the first time via the radiative transition from $ψ(3686)$. It is found that the branching fraction has a significant dependence on the interference pattern between $η_c(1S)$ and non-$η_c(1S)$ processes. They are determined to be $\displaystyle\mathcal{B}(η_c(1S) \to Σ^{0}\bar{Σ^{0}}) = (2.59 \pm 0.14(stat) \pm 0.44(syst)) \times 10^{-3}$ and $(1.18 \pm 0.12(stat) \pm 0.21(syst)) \times 10^{-3}$, for the destructive and constructive interference scenarios, respectively. No significant signal is observed for the decay $h_{c}\toΣ^{0}\bar{Σ^{0}}$ in the hadronic transition $ψ(3686)\toπ^0h_{c}$, and an upper limit on its branching fraction is set to be $1.02\times 10^{-4}$ at the 90\% confidence level.