Search for decays of the Z to unstable neutral leptons with mass between 2.5 and 22 GeV

Using the sample of neutral vector bosons (Z's) produced at the SLAC Linear Collider and detected with the Mark II detector, we search for the decay of the Z to a pair of particles, one of which decays to two charged particles. The observed number of Z decays with this signature excludes, at a confidence level greater than 95%, the decay of the Z to a pair of fourth-generation Dirac neutrinos with mass between 2.5 and 22 GeV, a decay length less than about 1 cm, and coupling to any of the first three generations of charged leptons. This is the first time the existence of such a lepton coupling to the ± has been excluded by a direct search. © 1990 The American Physical Society.