The ratio of branching ratios in leptonic pion decay Rπ​≡(Γ(π−→eνe​))/(Γ(π−→μνμ​)) is a powerfully
sensitive probe of new interactions beyond the electroweak standard model. This
is due to the chirality suppression of the standard model amplitude for the
decay, which results in a precise prediction for the ratio, and suppressed
amplitudes for new contributions to interfere with. We calculate, including QCD
corrections, the contributions to Rπ​ arising from a broad selection of
standard model extensions to which it is sensitive, including: R-parity
violating interactions in supersymmetric theories, theories with light
(electroweak scale) leptoquark degrees of freedom, non-minimal models of extra
doublet Higgs bosons, models in which the quarks and leptons are composite both
with and without supersymmetry, and models with strong TeV scale gravitational
interactions. Comparing with existing measurements of Rπ​ we provide
limits on each of these classes of models; our calculations also represent
state of the art theoretical benchmarks against which the results from the
upcoming round of leptonic pion decay experiments may be compared.Comment: 31 pages, 3 figure