Date Awarded
1989
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Department
Physics
Advisor
Morton Eckhause
Abstract
A sensitive search has been carried out for the rare decay $\rm K\sb{L}\to\mu e$. This decay violates conservation of separate lepton-number and thus is forbidden in the Standard Model of electro-weak interactions. Many new models have been proposed which could permit this process. The data were collected in the B5 beamline of the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron facility at the Brookhaven National Laboratory during the Spring, 1988 slow-extracted beam running period. The experiment was sensitive to approximately fifty million $\rm K\sb{L}\to\pi\pi$ decays. No $\rm K\sb{L}\to\mu e$ candidate events were detected. The 90% confidence level upper limit for the branching ratio is $\rm B(K\sb{L}\to\mu e) < 2.2 \times 10\sp{-10}$. This limit places a constraint on the mass of exotic particles proposed in many new theories.
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-tzke-ej63
Rights
© The Author
Recommended Citation
Ginkel, John Fred, "A search for the rare decay kaon(L) going to muon/electron" (1989). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. William & Mary. Paper 1539623782.
https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-tzke-ej63
