High-precision determination of radiative corrections to superallowed nuclear beta decays

Abstract

Superallowed $0^{+}\to 0^{+}$ transitions between $T=1$ nuclei have been a perfect avenue avenue for determining the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element $V_{ud}$, which imposes powerful constraints on physics beyond the Standard Model at low energies. For a long time, the precision of $V_{ud}$ has been limited by uncertainties in radiative corrections that arise from non-perturbative strong interaction physics at both the hadronic and nuclear levels. In this talk, I will describe some recent efforts to pin down these corrections by combining dispersive analysis with experimental data, lattice QCD, and nuclear many-body calculations.

Comments: 8 pages, 4 figures. Contribution to the Proceedings of the 14th International Spring Seminar on Nuclear Physics: "Cutting-edge developments in nuclear structure physics''