The NA62 experiment will begin taking data in 2015. Its primary purpose is a 10% measurement of the branching ratio of the ultrarare kaon decay $K^+ to pi^+ u bar{ u }$, using the decay in flight of kaons in an unseparated beam with momentum 75 GeV/c.The detector and analysis technique are described here.
$K^{+}rightarrowpi^{+} uoverline{ u}$ is one of the theoretically cleanest meson decay where to look for indirect effects of new physics complementary to LHC searches. The NA62 experiment at CERN SPS is designed to measure the branching ratio of this
decay with 10% precision. NA62 took data in pilot runs in 2014 and 2015 reaching the final designed beam intensity. The quality of 2015 data acquired, in view of the final measurement, will be presented.
The current status of the experimental study of the rare kaon decay K^+ to pi^+ u bar u at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) by the E787 and E949 collaborations is reported.
An upper limit on the branching ratio for the decay $K^+ ! rightarrow ! pi^+ u overline{ u}$ is set at $2.4 times 10^{-9}$ at the 90% C.L. using pions in the kinematic region $214~{rm MeV}/c < P_pi < 231~{rm MeV}/c$. An upper limit of $5.2 times 10^
{-10}$ is found on the branching ratio for decays $K^+ ! rightarrow ! pi^+ X^0$, where $X^0$ is any massless, weakly interacting neutral particle. Limits are also set for cases where $M_{X^0}>0$.
We report the results of a search for the decay $K^+ to pi^+ u bar u$ in the kinematic region with $pi^+$ momentum $140 < P < 195$ MeV/c using the data collected by the E787 experiment at BNL. No events were observed. When combined with our previou
s search in this region, one candidate event with an expected background of $1.22 pm 0.24$ events results in a 90% C.L. upper limit of $2.2 times 10^{-9}$ on the branching ratio of $K^+ to pi^+ u bar u$. We also report improved limits on the rates of $K^+ to pi^+ X^0$ and $K^+ to pi^+ X^1 X^2$ where $X^0, X^1, X^2$ are hypothetical, massless, long-lived neutral particles.
We have searched for the decay $K^+ to pi^+ u bar u$ in the kinematic region with pion momentum below the $K^+ to pi^+ pi^0$ peak. One event was observed, consistent with the background estimate of $0.73pm 0.18$. This implies an upper limit on $B(K^
+ to pi^+ u bar u)< 4.2times 10^{-9}$ (90% C.L.), consistent with the recently measured branching ratio of $(1.57^{+1.75}_{-0.82}) times 10^{-10}$, obtained using the standard model spectrum and the kinematic region above the $K^+ to pi^+ pi^0$ peak. The same data were used to search for $K^+ to pi^+ X^0$, where $X^0$ is a weakly interacting neutral particle or system of particles with $150 < M_{X^0} < 250 {rm ~MeV/c^2}$.