MULTIPLE-PHOTON EMISSION IN HEAVY-PARTICLE DECAYS

Cosmic-ray interactions, at energies above 1 TeV/nucleon, in emulsion chambers flown on high altitude balloons have yielded two events showi ng apparent decays of a heavy particle into one charged particle and f our photons. The photons converted into electron pairs very close to t he decay vertex. Attempts to explain this decay topology with known pa rticle decays are presented. Unless both events represent a b --> u tr ansition, which is statistically unlikely, then other known decay mode s for charmed or bottom particles do not account satisfactorily for th ese observations. This could possibly indicate a new decay channel.