A comprehensive overview of kaon decays is presented. The Standard Model predictions are discussed in detail, covering both the underlying short-distance electroweak dynamics and the important interplay of QCD at long distances. Chiral perturbation theory provides a universal framework for treating leptonic, semileptonic and nonleptonic decays including rare and radiative modes. All allowed decay modes with branching ratios of at least 10 −11 are analyzed. Some decays with even smaller rates are also included. Decays that are strictly forbidden in the Standard Model are not considered in this review. The present experimental status and the prospects for future improvements are reviewed.

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We discuss the decay τ − → ν τ π − π 0 γ in terms of a model with the correct low-energy structure and with the relevant resonance degrees of freedom. The nontrivial radiative dynamics becomes visible for large photon momenta only. We use the model to calculate electromagnetic corrections for the two-pion contribution to hadronic vacuum polarization extracted from photon-inclusive two-pion decays. The corrections are insensitive to the details of the model and depend on the pion form factor only. Putting all relevant isospin violating corrections together, we obtain a shift ∆a µ = (−120±26±3)×10 −11 to be applied to determinations of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon from photon-inclusive τ data.

Abstract. We present a global analysis of leptonic and semileptonic kaon decay data, including all recent results published by the BNL-E865, KLOE, KTeV, ISTRA+ and NA48 experiments. This analysis, in conjunction with precise lattice calculations of the hadronic matrix elements now available, leads to a very precise determination of |Vus| and allows us to perform several stringent tests of the Standard Model.

In the past decade, one of the major challenges of particle physics has been to gain an in-depth understanding of the role of quark flavor. In this time frame, measurements and the theoretical interpretation of their results have advanced tremendously. A much broader understanding of flavor particles has been achieved; apart from their masses and quantum numbers, there now exist detailed measurements of the characteristics of their interactions allowing stringent tests of Standard Model predictions. Among the most interesting phenomena of flavor physics is the violation of the CP symmetry that has been subtle and difficult to explore. In the past, observations of CP violation were confined to neutral K mesons, but since the early 1990s, a large number of CP-violating processes have been studied in detail in neutral B mesons. In parallel, measurements of the couplings of the heavy quarks and the dynamics for their decays in large samples of K, D, and B mesons have been greatly improved in accuracy and the results are being used as probes in the search for deviations from the Standard Model. In the near future, there will be a transition from the current to a new generation of experiments; thus a review of the status of quark flavor physics is timely. This report is the result of the work of physicists attending the 5th CKM workshop, hosted by the University of Rome "La Sapienza", September 9-13, 2008. It summarizes the results of the current generation of experiments that are about to be completed and it confronts these results with the theoretical understanding of the field which has greatly improved in the past decade. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved