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Joel C. Swallow

Publications and source records attributed to Joel C. Swallow.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Prospects for $K_{L}\toπ^{0}ν\barν$, $K_S\toμ^+μ^-$, $K_L\toπ^0 \ell^+\ell^-$ and $\varepsilon^{\prime}/\varepsilon$ after the new $K^{+}\toπ^{+}ν\barν$ result from NA62

The recently announced NA62 measurement of the $K^{+}\toπ^{+}ν\barν$ branching ratio, based on 2016--2024 data, is fully consistent with its very accurate Standard Model (SM) prediction. While it is not excluded that the final result based on 2016--2026 data will deviate from the SM prediction, the question arises whether a similar fate awaits the $K_{L}\toπ^{0}ν\barν$ decay. This decay is currently being searched for by the KOTO experiment, with the present upper bound roughly two orders of magnitude above its very precise SM prediction. The proposed KOTO II experiment aims to provide the first discovery of the $K_{L}\toπ^{0}ν\barν$ decay and measure its branching ratio. Building on the findings of several previous papers we demonstrate that in the presence of suitably chosen large new complex phases and of a small amount of new right-handed $\bar s d$ couplings, in addition to the left-handed ones, the $K_{L}\toπ^{0}ν\barν$ branching ratio can still be enhanced by one order of magnitude with respect to the SM prediction while keeping both $K^{+}\toπ^{+}ν\barν$ and $\varepsilon_K$ SM-like. Simultaneously the decays $K_S\toμ^+μ^-$, studied by LHCb, and $K_L\toπ^0\ell^+\ell^-$, searched for by KOTO II, can be strongly enhanced and the anomaly in the ratio $\varepsilon^{\prime}/\varepsilon$, as claimed by Dual QCD, removed. We illustrate this with an example of a specific $Z^\prime$ scenario.

hep-ph↗

New bound on the vectorial axion-down-strange coupling from $K^+ \to π^+ ν\bar ν$ data

We reinterpret publicly available $K^+ \to π^+ ν\barν$ data collected by NA62 from 2016 to 2024 to constrain the fundamental vectorial coupling of the QCD axion to down and strange quarks. Using a fully reproducible likelihood analysis and a complete renormalization-group evolution of the axion couplings from the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) scale to the kaon scale, we translate the experimental limit into bounds on both the low-energy flavour-violating coupling and the fundamental UV parameters. In the generic regime where strong contributions dominate the decay amplitude, we obtain $|(F_V)_{sd}(μ_K)| > 1.6 \times 10^{12}\,\text{GeV}$. The coexistence of parametrically suppressed weak contributions implies a second, conceptually distinct constraint: the fact that weak-amplitude dominance arises from highly tuned UV coupling configurations, translates into a conservative general lower limit on the PQ scale, $f_a > 4.9 \times 10^4\,\text{GeV}$. These results provide the strongest accelerator-based constraints on axion-induced $d \leftrightarrow s$ transitions and establish a robust lower bound on $f_a$, complementary to astrophysical limits.

hep-ph↗