Speaker: Vincenzo Cirigliano (Los Alamos National Lab.)

Abstract:
Title:
Probing the Standard Model and beyond with (semi)-leptonic meson decays

Abstract:
Precision studies of leptonic and semi-leptonic decays of light mesons 
(pi,K) provide a sensitive probe of lepton universality, quark-lepton 
(Cabibbo) universality, and  the ratios of light quark masses.
The Standard Model contribution to these decays provides the irreducible 
background against which one would like to identify or constrain possible 
new physics signals. In this talk I discuss recent improvements in 
predicting  K (pi) -> ell nu  and  K ->  pi ell nu decays  within the 
Standard Model,  using chiral effective field theory techniques. I will 
also briefly discuss the implications of these results on indirect searches 
of physics beyond the Standard Model.