Review of Kaon Physics at CERN and in Europe

Abstract

After reporting on recent results of the measurement of R K , the ratio of kaon leptonic decays rates, K ± → e + ν and K ± → µ + ν, the physics prospects and the status of the construction and commissioning of the NA62 experiment will be presented. The aim of NA62 is the measurement of the Branching Ratio (BR) of the K + → π + νν decay with ∼ 10% precision in two years of data taking. While the rate of the decay can be predicted with minimal theoretical uncertainty in the Standard Model (SM), the smallness of the BR and the challenging experimental signature make it very difficult to measure, making it a sensitive probe of the flavour sector of the SM. Kaon physics results and prospects from other experiments at CERN (e.g. LHCb) and in Europe (e.g. KLOE) will also be presented.