Final PhD Oral Examination (Thesis Title: “Precise Measurement of Rare Pion Decay”)

Abstract: A precise measurement of the pion to positron or muon decay branching ratio provides a test of lepton universality incorporated in the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. If a measurement is consistent with the SM, new constraints could be set on new physics. Most remarkably, a deviation could imply the presence of a new pseudo-scalar interaction whose energy scales up to O(1000 TeV) would enhance the branching ratio by O(0.1%). In some instances, these constraints can far exceed the reach of direct searches at colliders.