Kaon Radiative Decay K+ -> mu+ nu gamma at CKM at the Fermilab Main Injector

TL;DR

This paper discusses the potential for high-precision measurements of the K+ -> mu+ nu gamma decay at the Fermilab CKM experiment, aiming to determine kaon structure form factors and polarizability.

Contribution

It proposes using the CKM experiment's setup to study the radiative decay of kaons, which is a novel application of the existing spectrometer for this purpose.

Findings

Potential for high-statistics data collection

Improved determination of kaon form factors

Enhanced understanding of kaon polarizability

Abstract

High statistics data for the K+ -> mu+ nu gamma decay can allow the precision determination of the kaon structure dependent form factors and the kaon polarizability. This study is possible at the proposed FNAL CKM experiment. CKM (Charged Kaons at the Main injector) is a decay-in-flight spectrometer with two RICH, and designed to run at the main injector with a high kaon flux. The radiative decay data will be taken complementary to the primary CKM effort to study the rare kaon decay (K to pi nu nubar) for which CKM was primarily designed. We summarize here the underlying physics of K ->mu nu gamma, the experimental status, and how the CKM spectrometer will be adapted for this study.