Precision study of the $\eta \to \mu \mu \gamma$ and $\omega \to \mu + \mu \mu \pi^0$ electromagnetic transition form-factors and of the $\rho \to \mu \mu$ line shape in NA60

The NA60 experiment studied low-mass muon pair production in proton–nucleus (p–A) collisions using a 400 GeV proton beam at the CERN SPS. The low-mass dimuon spectrum is well described by the superposition of the two-body and Dalitz decays of the light neutral mesons η , ρ , ω , η′ and ϕ , and no evidence of in-medium effects is found. A new high-precision measurement of the electromagnetic transition form factors of the η and ω was performed, profiting from a 10 times larger data sample than the peripheral In–In sample previously collected by NA60. Using the pole-parameterisation |F(M)|2=(1−M2/Λ2)−2 we find Λη−2=1.934±0.067 (stat.) ±0.050 (syst.) (GeV/c2)−2 and Λω−2=2.223±0.026 (stat.) ±0.037 (syst.) (GeV/c2)−2 . An improved value of the branching ratio of the Dalitz decay ω→μ+μ−π0 is also obtained, with BR(ω→μ+μ−π0)=[1.41±0.09 (stat.)±0.15 (syst.)]×10−4 . Further results refer to the ρ line shape and a new limit on ρ/ω interference in hadron interactions.