Experimental Study of the Radiative Decays K+ -> mu+ nu e+e- and K+ -> e+ nu e+e-

Experiment 865 at the Brookhaven AGS obtained 410 K+ -> e+ nu e+e- and 2679 K+ -> mu+ nu e+e- events including 10% and 19% background. The branching ratios were measured to be (2.48+-0.14(stat.)+-0.14(syst.))x10^-8 (m_ee>150 MeV) and (7.06+-0.16+-0.26)x10^-8 (m_ee>145 MeV), respectively. Results for the decay form factors are presented.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX

New, high statistics measurement of the K+ -> pi0 e+ nu (Ke3) branching ratio

E865 at the Brookhaven National Laboratory AGS collected about 70,000 K+(e3) events with the purpose of measuring the relative K+(e3) branching ratio. The pi0 in all the decays was detected using the e+e- pair from pi0 -> e+e-gamma decay and no photons were required. Using the Particle Data Group branching ratios for the normalization decays we obtain BR(K+(e3(gamma))=(5.13+/-0.02(stat)+/-0.09(sys)+/-0.04(norm))%, where $K+(e3(gamma)) includes the effect of virtual and real photons. This result is 2.3 sigma higher than the current Particle Data Group value. The implications of this result for the$V_{us}$ element of the CKM matrix, and the matrix's unitarity are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures; final version accepted by PR

On the HJET feasibility to precisely measure the EIC 3He{}^3\text{He} beam polarization

The Polarized Atomic Hydrogen Gas Jet Target polarimeter (HJET) is used to measure the absolute proton beam polarization, $\sigma_P^\text{syst}/P\!\sim\!0.5\%$, at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Here we consider the possibility to employ HJET to measure the ${}^3\text{He}$ ($h$) beam polarization at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). The dominant contribution to the ratio of the $h^\uparrow{p}$ and $p^\uparrow{h}$ analyzing powers, which is needed for such measurements, can be easily calculated using well-known values of the proton and helion magnetic moments, but some corrections should be applied to achieve the required accuracy. It was found that corrections due to absorption and ${}^3\text{He}$ breakup effectively cancel in the ratio and a correction due to hadronic spin-flip amplitudes can be derived from the proton beam measurements. As a result, the anticipated systematic uncertainty in the measured ${}^3\text{He}$ beam polarization can satisfy the EIC requirement $\sigma_P^\text{syst}/P\!\lesssim\!1\%$.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Aspects of radiative K^+_e3 decays

We re-investigate the radiative charged kaon decay K+- --> pi0 e+- nu_e gamma in chiral perturbation theory, merging the chiral expansion with Low's theorem. We thoroughly analyze the precision of the predicted branching ratio relative to the non-radiative decay channel. Structure dependent terms and their impact on differential decay distributions are investigated in detail, and the possibility to see effects of the chiral anomaly in this decay channel is emphasized.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Form Factors in the radiative pion decay

We perform an analysis of the form factors that rule the structure-dependent amplitude in the radiative pion decay. The resonance contributions to pion -> e nu_e gamma decays are computed through the proper construction of the vector and axial-vector form factors by setting the QCD driven asymptotic properties of the three-point Green functions VVP and VAP, and by demanding the smoothing of the form factors at high transfer of momentum. A comparison between theoretical and experimental determinations of the form factors is also carried out. We also consider and evaluate the role played by a non-standard tensor form factor. We conclude that, at present and due to the hadronic incertitudes, the search for New Physics in this process is not feasible.Comment: 14 pages, no figures. Typos corrected. Accepted for publication in The European Physical Journal

First observation of the decay K+ -> e+ nu mu+ mu-

Experiment 865 at the Brookhaven AGS has observed the decay K^+ -> e^+ nu mu^+ mu^-. The branching ratio extracted is (1.72 +/- 0.37(stat) +/- 0.17(syst) +/- 0.19(model)) x 10^{-8} where the third term in the error results from the use of a model to extrapolate into a kinematic region dominated by background.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, Revtex4. Correction to figure and minor text change

An Improved upper limit on the decay K^+ -> pi^+ mu^+ e^-

Based on results of a search for the lepton-family-number-violating decay $K^+ \to \pi^+\mu^+ e^-$ with data collected by experiment E865 at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron of Brookhaven National Laboratory, we place an upper limit on the branching ratio at $2.1 \times 10^{-11}$ (90% C.L.). Combining the results with earlier E865 data and those of a previous experiment, E777, an upper limit on the branching ratio of $1.3 \times 10^{-11}$ (90% C.L.) is obtained.Comment: v2: 13 pages, submitted to the Phys. Rev. D v3: 13 pages, resubmitted to Phys. Rev. D (corrections include: a more detailed overview of the combined analysis of the available experimntal data