Search for η c ( 2 S ) → π + π − η c and η c ( 2 S ) → π + π − K S 0 K ± π ∓ decays
Based on ( 27.12 ± 0.14 ) × 10 8 ψ ( 2 S ) events collected by the BESIII detector, we search for the decay η c ( 2 S ) → π + π − η c via ψ ( 2 S ) → γ η c ( 2 S ) . No significant signal is observed, and the upper limit on the product branching fraction B ( ψ ( 2 S ) → γ η c ( 2 S ) ) × B ( η c ( 2 S ) → π + π − η c ) is determined to be 2.21 × 10 − 5 at the 90% confidence level. In addition, the η c ( 2 S ) → π + π − K S 0 K ± π ∓ decay is studied via ψ ( 2 S ) → γ η c ( 2 S ) and is observed with a statistical significance of 10 σ for the first time. The branching fraction of η c ( 2 S ) → π + π − K S 0 K ± π ∓ is determined to be ( 1.33 ± 0.11 ± 0.40 ± 0.95 ) × 10 − 2 , where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third uncertainty is due to the quoted B ( ψ ( 2 S ) → γ η c ( 2 S ) ) . Published by the American Physical Society 2024