An investigation of the very rare <mml:msup>K+</mml:msup>-><mml:msup>pi+</mml:msup>nu nu<mml:mo stretchy="true"><overbar></mml:mover> decay
Abstract
The NA62 experiment reports an investigation of the K+-> pi+nu nu mode from a sample of K+ decays collected in 2017 at the CERN SPS. The experiment has achieved a single event sensitivity of (0.389 +/- 0.024) x 10(-10), corresponding to 2.2 events assuming the Standard Model branching ratio of (8.4 +/- 1.0) x 10(-11).
Two signal candidates are observed with an expected background of 1.5 events. Combined with the result of a similar analysis conducted by NA62 on a smaller data set recorded in 2016, the collaboration now reports an upper limit of 1.78 x 10(-10) for the K+-> pi+nu nu branching ratio at 90% CL.
This, together with the corresponding 68% CL measurement of (0.48-0.48+0.72) x 10(-10), are currently the most precise results worldwide, and are able to constrain some New Physics models that predict large enhancements still allowed by previous measurements.