Study on the Effects of the Light CP-odd Higgs via the Leptonic Decays of Pseudoscalar Mesons

To explain the anomalously large decay rate of Σ⁺→p+μ⁺μ^-, it was proposed that a new mechanism where a light CP-odd pseudoscalar boson of m_A1⁰=214.3 MeV makes a crucial contribution. Later, some authors have studied the transition π⁰→ e⁺e^- and r → γA₁⁰ in terms of the same mechanism and their result indicates that with the suggested mass one cannot fit the data. This discrepancy might be caused by experimental error of Σ⁺→ p+μ⁺μ^- because there were only a few events. Whether the mechanism is a reasonable one motivates us to investigate the transitions π⁰→ e⁺e^-;η(η')→ μ⁺μ^-; η_c→ μ⁺μ^-; η_b→τ⁺τ^- within the same framework. It is noted that for π⁰→ e⁺e^-, the standard model (SM) prediction is smaller than the data, whereas the experimental central value of η→μ⁺μ^- is also above the SM prediction. It means that there should be extra contributions from other mechanisms and the contribution of A₁⁰ may be a possible one. Theoretically calculating the branching ratios of the concerned modes, we would check if we can obtain a universal mass for A₁⁰ which reconcile the theoretical predictions and data for all the modes. Unfortunately, we find that it is impossible to have such a mass with the same coupling |gl|. Therefore we conclude that the phenomenology does not favor such a light A₁⁰, even though a small window is still open.