Rare decays at the CERN high-intensity kaon beam facility

Abstract

Precision measurements of the branching ratios (BRs) for rare kaon decays can provide unique constraints on CKM unitarity and may reveal the existence of new physics. The BRs for two of these decays, $K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar{\nu}$ and $K_L\to\pi^0\nu\bar{\nu}$, are strongly suppressed in the Standard Model, while their rates can be calculated with very small theoretical uncertainties.These decays are potentially sensitive to high mass scales, and several models of new physics predict large deviations from the Standard Model. Much progress has been made recently in the measurement of the $K\to\pi\nu\bar{\nu}$ BRs. Following upon NA62's successful application of the in-flight technique to measure ${\rm BR}(K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar{\nu})$, we envision a comprehensive program for the study of the rare decay modes of both $K^+$ and $K_L$ mesons, to be carried out with high-intensity kaon beams from the CERN SPS in multiple phases, including both an experiment to measure ${\rm BR}(K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar{\nu})$ at the 5% level and an experiment to measure ${\rm BR}(K_L\to\pi^0\nu\bar{\nu})$ at the 20% level. The detectors could also be reconfigured to allow measurements of $K_L$ decays with charged particles, such as $K_L\to\pi^0\ell^+\ell^-$.