Pion Leptonic Decays and Supersymmetry

Abstract

We compute supersymmetric contributions to pion leptonic (\pi_{l2}) decays in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). When R-parity is conserved, the largest contributions to the ratio R_{e/\mu} = \Gamma[ \pi^+ \to e^+ \nu_e(\gamma)]/\Gamma[ \pi^+ \to \mu^+ \nu_\mu(\gamma)] arise from one-loop (V-A)x(V-A) corrections. These contributions can be potentially as large as the sensitivities of upcoming experiments; if measured, they would imply significant bounds on the chargino and slepton sectors complementary to current collider limits. We also analyze R-parity violating interactions, which may produce a detectable deviation in R_{e/\mu} while remaining consistent with all other precision observables.