Observation of the rare decay KS→π0e+e−

A search for the decay KS→π0e+e− has been made by the NA48/1 experiment at the CERN SPS accelerator. Using data collected during 89 days in 2002 with a high-intensity KS beam, 7 events were found with a background of 0.15 events. The branching fraction BR(KS→π0e+e−,mee>0.165 GeV/c2)=(3.0+1.5−1.2(stat)±0.2(syst))×10−9 has been measured. Using a vector matrix element and a form factor equal to one, the measurement gives BR(KS→π0e+e−)=(5.8+2.9−2.4)×10−9.