Signatures of generalized ALP interactions in SM decays of mesons

Abstract

In addition to giving rise to spectacular new physics signals in the final states of meson decays, Axion-like-particles also induce modifications in the standard model decays of mesons. These `indirect' signatures can be parametrized as the modifications of the hadronic form factors and can be probed using meson decay width and decay distribution measurements. Starting with a generalized ALP Lagrangian, we demonstrate these effects for semileptonic Kaon decays and derived bounds using NA48/2 data. We also briefly discuss other indirect signatures such as modification of meson mass spectrum and `sum rules' comprised of meson decay amplitudes which show deviation in presence of ALP.