Charged Lepton Flavor Violation: An Experimenter's Guide

TL;DR

This paper reviews the history and future prospects of experimental searches for charged lepton flavor violation, highlighting their importance as signals of new physics and discussing potential future directions and facilities.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of past CLFV experiments and explores future experimental strategies and necessary facilities for advancing the field.

Findings

Historical progress in CLFV searches

Current experimental limits on CLFV processes

Future experimental prospects and facility requirements

Abstract

Charged lepton flavor violation (CLFV) is a clear signal of new physics; it directly addresses the physics of flavor and of generations. The search for CLFV has continued from the early 1940's, when the muon was identified as a separate particle, until today. Certainly in the LHC era the motivations for continued searches are clear and have been covered in many reviews. This review is focused on the experimental history with a view toward how these searches might progress. We examine of the status of searches for charged lepton flavor violation in the muon, tau, and other channels, and then examine the prospects for new efforts over the next decade. Finally, we examine what paths might be taken after the conclusion of upcoming experiments and what facilities might be required.