The Rare Decay K^+ -> pi^+ nu nubar at the Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order in QCD

Abstract

We calculate the charm quark contribution to the rare decay K+ -> pi+ nu anti-nu in the next-to-next-to-leading order of QCD. This new contribution reduces the theoretical uncertainty in the relevant parameter Pc from +/- 10.1% down to +/- 2.4%, corresponding to scale uncertainties of +/- 1.3%, +/- 1.0%, +/- 0.006 and +/- 1.2 degrees in BR(K+ -> pi+ nu anti-nu) and in |V_td|, sin(2 beta) and gamma extracted from the K -> pi nu anti-nu system. The error in Pc = 0.37 +/- 0.04 is now fully dominated by the current uncertainty of +/- 3.8% in the charm quark mass mc. We find BR(K+ -> pi+ nu anti-nu) = (8.0 +/- 1.1) * 10^-11, where the quoted error stems almost entirely from the present uncertainties in mc and the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa elements.