Measuring The Rare Decays $K^+\to \pi^+ \nu \bar\nu$ and $K^0_L \to \pi^0 \nu \bar\nu$

Abstract

In this paper I will describe the search for rare kaon decay processes $K^+\to \pi^+ \nu \bar\nu$ and $K^0_L \to \pi^0 \nu \bar\nu$. The small decay rate for these processes is considered a key prediction of the standard model. We searched for the charged kaon decay $K^+\to \pi^+ \nu \bar\nu$ using kaons decaying at rest in the E787 detector at Brookhaven National Laboratory in two different phase space regions: Region 1 with pion momentum above 205 MeV/c (the $K^+ \to \pi^+ \pi^0$ peak) and Region 2 with pion momentum below 205 MeV/c. We have found 2 events in Region 1 which is known to have small background ($0.15^{+0.048}_{-0.032}$). This observation leads to a branching ratio measurement of $(1.57^{+1.75}_{-0.82})\times 10^{-10}$. We found 1 event in Region 2 with an expectation of $0.73\pm 0.18$ background events. The observation from Region 2 is consistent with the branching ratio measured using Region 1. I will also describe new efforts underway to measure both the decay rates with much higher statistics.