Decay of kaonium in a chiral approach

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The decay of the K+K− hadronic atom kaonium is investigated non-perturbatively using meson–meson interaction amplitudes taken from leading order chiral perturbation theory in an approach adapted from that proposed by Oller and Oset (1997) [18]. The Kudryavtsev–Popov eigenvalue equation is solved numerically for the energy shift and decay width due to strong interactions in the 1s state. These calculations introduce a cutoff ∼1.4 GeV in O(4) momentum space that is necessary to regulate divergent loop contributions to the meson–meson scattering amplitudes in the strong-interaction sector. One finds lifetimes of (2.2±0.9)×10−18 s for the ground state of kaonium.