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An experimental limit on the decayK +→μ+ v e

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Zeitschrift für Physik C Particles and Fields

Abstract

We have searched for the decay modeK +→μ+ v e by looking for thev e interactions in a neon/hydrogen bubble chamber. The observed events with electrons are consistent with being produced byv e from the decaysK +→π0 e + v e . We set a 90% confidence level upper limit of 0.4% for the μ+ v e decay mode of positive kaons.

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References

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  7. The currently quoted [5] upper limit for this process' branching ratio is 2×10−9, but it was obtained in an experiment [8] which failed to observe theK O L →μ+μ mode, and set an upper limit (<3×10−9) which is significantly below the currently accepted value ((9±2)10−9)

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  14. It is possible that in addition to the decay modes (1) and (3), there could be other sources of neutrinos incident on the bubble chamber (e.g. prompt neutrinos [14] from charm production in the target upstream of the narrow band beam). If so, our upper limits onF should be reduced slightly. We prefer to take a more conservative option, and accept 0.4% as our upper limit, independent of other possible sources of neutrinos

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Lyons, L., Albajar, C. & Myatt, G. An experimental limit on the decayK +→μ+ v e . Z. Phys. C - Particles and Fields 10, 215–219 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01549729

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01549729

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