Measurement of eta meson production in gamma gamma interactions and Gamma(eta -> gamma gamma) with the KLOE detector

We present a measurement of eta meson production in photon-photon interactions produced by electron-positron beams colliding with root s = 1 GeV. The measurement is done with the KLOE detector at the phi-factory DA Phi NE with an integrated luminosity of 0.24 fb(-1). The e(+)e(-) -> e(+)e(-)eta cross section is measured without detecting the outgoing electron and positron, selecting the decays eta -> pi(+)pi(-)pi(0) and eta -> pi(0)pi(0)pi(0). The most relevant background is due to e(+)e(-) -> eta gamma when the monochromatic photon escapes detection. The cross section for this process is measured as sigma(e(+)e(-) -> eta gamma) = (856 +/- 8(stat) +/- 16(syst)) pb. The combined result for the e(+)e(-) -> e(+)e(-)eta cross section is sigma(e(+)e(-) -> e(+)e(-)eta) = (32.72 +/- 1.27(stat) +/- 0.70(syst)) pb. From this we derive the partial width Gamma(eta -> gamma gamma) = (520 +/- 20(stat) +/- 13(syst)) eV. This is in agreement with the world average and is the most precise measurement to date.