Measurement of Gamma(eta -> pi^+pi^-gamma)/Gamma(eta -> pi^+pi^-pi^0) with the KLOE Detector

The ratio R_{eta}=Gamma(eta -> pi^+pi^-gamma)/Gamma(eta -> pi^+pi^-pi^0) has been measured by analyzing 22 million phi to eta gamma decays collected by the KLOE experiment at DAPhiNE, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 558 pb^{-1}. The eta to pi^+pi^-gamma proceeds both via the rho resonant contribution, and possibly a non-resonant direct term, connected to the box anomaly. Our result, R_{eta}= 0.1856pm 0.0005_{stat} pm 0.0028_{syst}, points out a sizable contribution of the direct term to the total width. The di-pion invariant mass for the eta -> pi^+pi^-gamma decay could be described in a model-independent approach in terms of a single free parameter, alpha. The determined value of the parameter alpha is alpha = (1.32 pm 0.08_{stat} +0.10/-0.09_{syst}pm 0.02_{theo}) GeV^{-2}