K → μ+μ− as a clean probe of short-distance physics

Abstract

Abstract The K → μ+μ− decay is often considered to be uninformative of fundamental theory parameters since the decay is polluted by long-distance hadronic effects. We demonstrate that, using very mild assumptions and utilizing time-dependent interference effects, ℬ(KS → μ+μ−)ℓ=0 can be experimentally determined without the need to separate the ℓ = 0 and ℓ = 1 final states. This quantity is very clean theoretically and can be used to test the Standard Model. In particular, it can be used to extract the CKM matrix element combination $$ \mid {V}_{ts}{V}_{td}\sin \left(\beta +{\beta}_s\right)\mid \approx \mid {A}^2{\lambda}^5\overline{\eta}\mid $$ ∣ V ts V td sin β + β s ∣ ≈ ∣ A 2 λ 5 η ¯ ∣ with hadronic uncertainties below 1%.