Evidence for the singly Cabibbo suppressed decay Lambda(+)(c) -> p eta and search for Lambda(+)(c) -> p pi(0)

Abstract

We study the singly Cabibbo suppressed decays Lambda(+)(c) -> p eta and Lambda(+)(c) -> p pi(0) using Lambda(+)(c)(Lambda) over bar (-)(c) pairs produced by e(+)e(-) collisions at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 4.6 GeV. The data sample was collected by the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 567 pb(-1). We find the first evidence for the decay Lambda(+)(c) -> p eta with a statistical significance of 4.2 sigma and measure its branching fraction to be B(Lambda(+)(c) -> p eta) = (1.24 +/- 0.28(stat) +/- 0.10(sys)) x 10(-3). No significant Lambda(+)(c) -> p pi(0) signal is observed. We set an upper limit on its branching fraction B(Lambda(+)(c) -> p pi(0)) < 2.7 x 10(-4) at the 90% confidence level.