Pion Leptonic Decays and Supersymmetry

Abstract

We compute supersymmetric contributions to pion leptonic (π_{l2}) decays in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). When R-parity is conserved, the largest contributions to the ratio R_{e/μ} = Γ[ π^+ \to e^+ ν_e(γ)]/Γ[ π^+ \to μ^+ ν_μ(γ)] arise from one-loop (V-A)x(V-A) corrections. These contributions can be potentially as large as the sensitivities of upcoming experiments; if measured, they would imply significant bounds on the chargino and slepton sectors complementary to current collider limits. We also analyze R-parity violating interactions, which may produce a detectable deviation in R_{e/μ} while remaining consistent with all other precision observables.

12 pages, 11 figures; included additional electroweak constraints in analysis, simplified abstract, ref. added