Search for lepton-flavor-violating tau-lepton decays to ℓγ at Belle

Abstract

A bstract Charged lepton flavor violation is forbidden in the Standard Model but possible in several new physics scenarios. In many of these models, the radiative decays τ ± → ℓ ± γ ( ℓ = e, μ ) are predicted to have a sizeable probability, making them particularly interesting channels to search at various experiments. An updated search via τ ± → ℓ ± γ using full data of the Belle experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 988 fb − 1 , is reported for charged lepton flavor violation. No significant excess over background predictions from the Standard Model is observed, and the upper limits on the branching fractions, $$ \mathcal{B} $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>B</mml:mi> </mml:math> ( τ ± → μ ± γ ) ≤ 4 . 2 × 10 − 8 and $$ \mathcal{B} $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>B</mml:mi> </mml:math> ( τ ± → e ± γ ) ≤ 5 . 6 × 10 − 8 , are set at 90% confidence level.