6533b7cffe1ef96bd1257c61

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Testing WWγ vertex in radiative muon decay

subject

description

Large numbers of muons will be produced at facilities developed to probe the lepton-flavor-violating process μ→eγ. We show that by constructing a suitable asymmetry, radiative muon decay μ→eγνμν̄e can also be used to test the WWγ vertex at such facilities. The process has two missing neutrinos in the final state, and upon integrating their momenta the partial differential decay rate shows no radiation-amplitude zero. However, we establish that an easily separable part of the normalized differential decay rate that is odd under the exchange of photon and electron energies does have a zero in the case of the standard model (SM). This new type of zero has hitherto not been studied in the literature. A suitably constructed asymmetry using this fact enables a sensitive probe for the WWγ vertex beyond the SM. With a simplistic analysis, we find that the C- and P-conserving dimension-four WWγ vertex can be probed at O(10-2) with a satisfactory significance level.