New Directions in Kaon Physics: Interference in $K^0\to\mu^+\mu^-$ as a New Golden Mode

TL;DR

This paper discusses a novel interference effect in neutral kaon decays to muons, which enables a cleaner probe of direct CP violation and short-distance physics, with potential for precise measurements at LHCb.

Contribution

It introduces the interference mechanism between $K_L^0$ and $K_S^0$ decays as a new method to study CP violation and short-distance physics in kaon decays.

Findings

Interference enhances sensitivity to direct CP violation in $K^0$ decays.

Projected LHCb measurements could constrain CKM parameters to 35% of their SM values.

The sign ambiguity in the $K_L^0 o ext{two-photon}$ amplitude could be resolved at over 3σ.

Abstract

The rare decays $K^0_L \to\mu^+\mu^-$ and $K^0_S \to\mu^+\mu^-$ have long been regarded as difficult channels to extract short-distance physics because they are dominated by long-distance contributions via two-photon exchanges. A qualitatively new feature arises once the interference between $K_L^0$ and $K_S^0$ is taken into account. The interference term is sensitive to genuine direct $CP$ violation in $s \to d \mu^+ \mu^-$ processes and turns this channel into a clean probe of the $CP$-violating short-distance physics. In this contribution, I summarize the basic mechanism of the $K_L^0$--$K_S^0$ interference, the flavor-tagging strategy at LHCb-like setup, and the projected sensitivities for a kaon-unitarity-triangle parameter combination $|A^2\lambda^5\bar\eta|$ and also for the sign ambiguity of the $K_L^0 \to \gamma \gamma$ three-point amplitude. As a result, it is expected that the CKM parameter $|A^2\lambda^5\bar\eta|$ could be constrained by LHCb at the level of about $35\%$ of its Standard Model (SM) value, and the discrete ambiguity in $\mathcal{B}(K_L^0 \to \mu^+\mu^-)_{\rm SM}$ could be resolved at more than $3\sigma$ by the end of the high luminosity LHC.