Evidence of $\sigma$ particle in $J/\psi \to \omega \pi \pi$

Abstract

Based on a sample of 7.8 million BESI $J/\psi$ events, the decay of $ J/\psi \to \omega \pi^+ \pi^-$ is studied. A low mass enhancement in the $\pi^+ \pi^-$ invariant mass spectrum recoiling against $\omega$ particle is clearly seen which does not come from the phase space effect and the background. According to PWA analysis, this low mass enhancement is a broad $0^{++}$ resonance, the $\sigma$ particle. If a Breit-Winger function of constant width is used to fit the $\sigma$ signal, its mass and width are $384 \pm 66$ MeV and $458 \pm 100$ MeV respectively, which correspond to the pole position at (434 $\pm$ 78) - $i$ (202 $\pm$ 43) MeV.