Sterile neutrino and leptonic decays of the pseudoscalar mesons

TL;DR

This paper explores how a single sterile neutrino could influence rare leptonic and radiative decays of pseudoscalar mesons like B, D, and K, potentially leading to observable effects in these processes.

Contribution

It introduces a model-independent effective theory framework to analyze sterile neutrino effects on meson decays, highlighting their potential significance.

Findings

Sterile neutrino can significantly affect rare meson decay rates.

Potential observable deviations in leptonic and radiative decay channels.

Framework applicable to B, D, and K meson decay studies.

Abstract

We consider a scenario with only one sterile neutrino $ N $, negligible mixing with the active neutrinos $ \nu_{L} $, where its interactions with ordinary particles could be described in a model independent approach based on an effective theory. Under such a framwork, we consider the contributions of the sterile neutrino $N$ to the pure leptonic decays $ M \rightarrow l\nu $ and $ \nu \overline{\nu} $, and the radiative leptonic decays $ M \rightarrow l\nu\gamma $ with $M$ denoting the pseudoscalar mesons $ B $, $ D $ and $ K$. We find that it can produce significant effects on some of these rare decay processes.