Within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory framework, with operators up to dimension 6, we perform a model-independent analysis of the lepton-flavour-violating processes involving tau leptons. Namely, we study hadronic tau decays and $\ell$-$τ$ conversion in nuclei ($\ell=e,μ$). Based on available experimental limits, we establish constraints on the Wilson coefficients of the operators contributing to these processes. The related information from Belle II and foreseen future experiments can be easily incorporated into the resulting framework.
In these proceedings we review the impact of the tauonic $B$ decays $B\toτν$, $B\to Dτν$ and $B\to D^*τν$ on Higgs mediated flavour violation. For this purpose we study a 2HDM with generic flavour structure (of type III). We find that despite the stringent constraints from FCNC processes sizable effects in tauonic $B$ decays are possible if top-related flavour violation is large and that the tensions with the SM predictions can be resolved even when taking into account the recent CMS bounds on $A^0\toτ^+τ^-$.
Within the Standard Model Effective Field Theory framework, with operators up to dimension 6, we perform a model-independent analysis of the lepton-flavour-violating processes involving tau leptons. Namely, we study hadronic tau decays and $\ell$--$τ$ conversion in nuclei, with $\ell = e,μ$. Based on available experimental limits, we establish constraints on the Wilson coefficients of the operators contributing to these processes. Our work paves the way to extract the related information from Belle II and foreseen future experiments.
We study Lepton Flavour Violating hadron decays of the tau lepton within the Simplest Little Higgs model. Namely we consider $τ\rightarrow μ(P, V, PP)$ where $P$ and $V$ are short for a pseudoscalar and a vector meson. We find that, in the most positive scenarios, branching ratios for these processes are predicted to be, at least, four orders of magnitude smaller than present experimental bounds.
The possibility to discriminate between different operators contributing to lepton flavour violating tau decays is discussed within an effective field theory framework. Correlations among decay rates in different channels as well as differential distributions in many-body decays are considered. Recent developments in the determination of the hadronic form factors for $τ\rightarrow \ell ππ$ ($\ell = e, μ$) decays are incorporated in the analysis. The above issues are exemplified by considering a Higgs-like boson with lepton flavour violating couplings. Implications of the search for lepton flav…
We estimate that the LHC could set bounds BR(Z -> mu^\pm e^\mp) < 4.1 * 10^{-7} and BR(Z -> tau^\pm mu^\mp)< 3.5 * 10^{-6} (at 95% C.L.) with 20 inverse fb of data at 8 TeV. A similar sensitivity can be anticipated for Z -> tau^\pm e^\mp, because we consider leptonic tau decays such that Z -> tau^+ mu^- gives e^+ μ^- +$ invisibles. These limits can be compared to the LEP1 bounds of order 10^{-5} to 10^{-6}. Such collider searches are sensitive to a flavour-changing effective Z coupling which is energy dependent, so are complementary to bounds obtained from tau to 3mu and mu to 3e.
Lepton flavour universality (LFU) in B-decays is revisited by considering a class of semileptonic operators defined at a scale Lambda above the electroweak scale v. The importance of quantum effects, so far neglected in the literature, is emphasised. We construct the low-energy effective Lagrangian taking into account the running effects from Lambda down to v through the one-loop renormalization group equations (RGE) in the limit of exact electroweak symmetry and QED RGEs from v down to the 1 GeV scale. The most important quantum effects turn out to be the modification of the leptonic coupling…
Leptoquarks are ubiquitous in several extensions of the Standard Model and seem to be able to accommodate the universality-violation-driven $B$-meson-decay anomalies and the $(g-2)_μ$ discrepancy interpreted as deviations from the Standard Model predictions. In addition, the search for lepton-flavour violation in the charged sector is, at present, a major research program that could also be facilitated by the dynamics generated by leptoquarks. In this article, we consider a rather wide framework of both scalar and vector leptoquarks as the generators of lepton-flavour violation in processes in…
The singly charged $SU(2)_L$ singlet scalar, with its necessarily flavour violating couplings to leptons, lends itself particularly well for an explanation of the Cabibbo Angle Anomaly and of hints for lepton flavour universality violation in $τ\to μ\bar νν$. In a setup addressing both anomalies, we predict loop-induced effects in $τ\to eγ$ and in $τ\to eμμ$. A recast of ATLAS selectron and smuon searches allows us to derive a coupling-independent lower limit of $\approx 200$ GeV on the mass of the singly charged singlet scalar. At a future $e^+e^-$ collider, dark matter mono-photon searches c…
We study lepton flavour-violating interactions which could result in the $τ$-lepton production in the $ν_μN$ scattering or in $μ\to τ$ conversion on nucleons at high energies. Phenomenological bounds on the strength of $\barτν_μ\bar{q}q^{'}$ interactions are extracted from the combined result of the NOMAD and CHORUS experiments on searching for $ν_μ - ν_τ$ oscillations. Some of these bounds supersede limits from rare decays. We also propose a ``missing energy'' type experiment searching for $μ- τ$ conversion on nucleons. The experiment can be performed at a present accelerator or at a future n…
We report on the creation of a database for quarkonium and open heavy-flavour production in hadronic collisions. This database, made as a collaboration between HepData and the ReteQuarkonii network of the integrating activity I3HP2 of the 7th Framework Programme, provides an up-to-date review on quarkonia and open heavy-flavour existing data. We first present the physics motivation for this project, which is connected to the aim of the ReteQuarkonii network, studies of open heavy-flavour hadrons and quarkonia in nucleus-nucleus collisions. Then we give a general overview of the database and de…
In the framework of precision experiments, the search for electric dipole moments and the precise determination of magnetic dipole moments (g-2) have since long been of prime interest. Hadronic decays offer the best accuracy, since only the kinematic information carried by a single neutrino per decay is lost. Thus, they reveal more easily precious information on the helicity of the initial tau lepton. However, in contrast to one- or two-body hadronic final states, the description of hadronic multi-body final states depends on the model for the hadronic current. In this work, we determine how t…
Exclusive hadronic decays of the tau lepton provide an excellent framework to study the hadronization of QCD currents in a non-perturbative energy region populated by many resonances. I give a short review both on the main theoretical tools employed to analyse experimental data and on how Theory compares with Experiment.
Motivated by the recent investigation of neutrinoless $τ$-lepton decays by the CLEO collaboration, we perform a systematic analysis of such decays in a possible new-physics scenario with heavy Dirac/Majorana neutrinos, including heavy-neutrino nondecoupling effects, finite quark masses, and quark as well as meson mixings. We find that $τ$-lepton decays into an electron or muon and a pseudoscalar or vector meson can have branching ratios close to the experimental sensitivity. Numerical estimates show that the predominant decay modes of this kind are $τ^-\to e^-ϕ$, $τ^-\to e^-ρ^0$, and $τ^-\to e…
The structure of the form factors stemmed from the hadronization of QCD currents in the energy region of the resonances can be explored through the analyses of exclusive hadronic decays of the tau lepton. I give a short review on the later theoretical progress achieved in the description of experimental data.
Many models for physics beyond the Standard Model predict lepton-flavour violating decays of charged leptons at a level which may become observable very soon. In the present paper we investigate the decays of a Tau into three charged leptons in a generic way, based on effective-field-theory methods, where the relevant operators are classified according to their chirality structure. We work out the decay distributions and discuss phenomenological implications.
This PhD thesis studies some hadronic and radiative decays of the tau lepton using a Chiral Lagrangian including resonance fields. After a theoretical introduction, the decays to the $(πππ)^-$, $(KKπ)^-$ and $η^{(\prime)} π^- π^0$ hadronic states and $τ\to (π/K)^- γν_tau$ are analysed. Some material, which was not included in the corresponding references, is also discussed: The structure functions analysis for the 3 pion modes, the differential decay width as a function of the two-particle invariant masses in the considered three-meson modes and a simplified study of the $τ\to$η^{(\prime)} π^-…
We study the prospects to detect at hadron colliders the Lepton Flavour Violating Higgs decay H --> tau mu, which can reach substantial branching fractions in several extensions of the SM. Among them, the generic two higgs doublet model can be taken as a representative case where B.R.(H --> tau mu) can reach values of order 10^-1-10^-2. Bounds on the LFV factor kappa_{tau mu} of order 0.8-1.7 can be derived at 95% c.l. at Tevatron Run-2 with 4 fb^-1 for m_H = 110-150 GeV.
We perform a global analysis of exclusive hadronic tau decays into one and two mesons using the low-energy limit of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory up to dimension six, assuming left-handed neutrinos. A controlled theoretical input on the Standard Model hadronic form factors, based on chiral symmetry, dispersion relations, data and asymptotic QCD properties, has allowed us to set bounds on the New Physics effective couplings using the present experimental data. Our results highlight the importance of semileptonic $τ$ decays in complementing the traditional low-energy probes, such nuc…
Sum rule tests are performed on the spectral data for (i) flavor 'ud' vector- current-induced hadronic tau decays and (ii) e^+ e^- hadroproduction, in the region below s~3-4 GeV^2, where discrepancies exist between the isospin- breaking-corrected charged and neutral current I=1 spectral functions. The tau data is found to be compatible with expectations based on high-scale alpha_s(M_Z) determinations, while the electroproduction data displays two problems. The results favor determinations of the leading order hadronic contribution to (g-2)_mu which incorporate hadronic tau decay data over thos…
Exclusive semi-leptonic decays of the tau lepton offer a clean probe to study the hadronization of QCD currents in its non-perturbative regime and learn about resonance dynamics, which drives strong interactions in these processes. In this theory outlook, I will use the simplest non-trivial di-pion tau decays to illustrate briefly recent theoretical progress on these analyses and their comparison to data.
Realistic predictions are made for the rates of lepton flavour violating Higgs boson decays, tau --> mu gamma, mu --> e gamma, Bs --> mu+mu-, Bs --> tau mu and tau --> 3mu, via a top-down analysis of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model(MSSM) constrained by SU(5) unification with right-handed Neutrinos and large tan beta. The third family neutrino Yukawa coupling is chosen to be of order 1, in this way our model bares a significant resemblance to supersymmetric SO(10). In this framework the large PMNS mixings result in potentially large lepton flavour violation. Our analysis predicts tau …
We investigate flavour violating decays of the long-lived lightest slepton and the tau lepton in the coannihilation region of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with a Seesaw mechanism to generate neutrino masses. We consider a situation where the mass difference between the lightest neutralino, as the Lightest Supersymmetric particle (LSP), and the lightest slepton, as the Next-to-LSP, is smaller than the mass of tau lepton. In this situation, the lifetime of the lightest slepton is very long and it is determined by lepton flavour violating (LFV) couplings because the slepton mainly co…
Until present the study of the form factors associated to the vector and axial-vector components of the hadronic weak current has been carried out with a plethora of modelizations of the underlying strong interactions. While of importance to get an understanding of the dynamics involved, the amount and quality of the experimental data start to show some discrepancies with the analysed models. Moreover, and from a theoretical point of view, most of these models are not consistent with quantum chromodynamics (QCD). We propose a QCD-based model-independent procedure to analyse those decays throug…
We present two recent developments on lepton flavour violation in the MSSM. 1) The supersymmetric seesaw mechanism can be realized through the exchange of heavy SU(2)_W-triplet states, rather than `right-handed' neutrinos. In this scenario the ratio of the tau --> mu gamma (or tau --> e gamma) and mu --> e gamma rates are unambiguously predicted in terms of the low-energy neutrino parameters. 2) Lepton flavour violating decays of the Higgs bosons, (h, H, A) --> mu tau, are induced at one-loop level. The branching ratios can reach 10^{-4} for large tan(beta) and sizeable smuon-stau mixing. Inte…
We consider the leptonic and semileptonic (SL) lepton flavour violating (LFV) decays of the charged leptons in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). The formalism for evaluation of branching fractions for the SL LFV charged-lepton decays with one or two pseudoscalar mesons, or one vector meson in the final state, is given. Previous amplitudes for the SL LFV charged-lepton decays in MSSM are improved, for instance the $γ$-penguin amplitude is corrected to assure the gauge invariance. The decays are studied not only in the model-independent formulation of the theory in the frame of M…
We provide an overview of recent determinations of the strong coupling, $α_s$, from hadronic $τ$ decays. We contrast two analysis methods, the "truncated-OPE approach" and the "DV-model approach," highlighting the assumptions going into each of these. We argue that a detailed study based on ALEPH data shows the truncated-OPE approach to be quantitatively unreliable, while the DV-model approach passes all tests. New data for hadronic $τ$ decays from Belle and Belle-II could provide more stringent tests of the DV-model approach, and thus potentially lead to a more precise value of $α_s$ from had…
We study charged lepton flavour violation in low-scale seesaw models of minimal supergravity, which realize large neutrino Yukawa couplings thanks to approximate lepton-number symmetries. There are two dominant sources of lepton flavour violation in such models. The first source originates from the usual soft supersymmetry-breaking sector, whilst the second one is entirely supersymmetric and comes from the supersymmetric neutrino Yukawa sector. Within the framework of minimal supergravity, we consider both sources of lepton flavour violation, soft and supersymmetric, and calculate a number of …
Current and upcoming experiments should improve the sensitivity to radiative lepton decays by an order of magnitude. This paper assumes that one of the tau --> (e, mu) gamma decays is observed, and explores the structure and consequences of the required new flavoured couplings. In simple models (a low-scale seesaw, leptoquarks) it is shown that the dipole vertex function is proportional to a product of flavoured matrices from the Lagrangian (a "Jarlskog-like" invariant), provided that the loop particles are weakly coupled to the Higgs. Secondly, if the dipole vertex function has a hierarchical…
The status of implementation of new hadronic currents into the Monte Carlo system for simulation of tau-lepton production and decay in high-energy accelerator experiments is reviewed. Since the tau-lepton conference in 2010 substantial progress was achieved: (i) For the TAUOLA Monte Carlo generator of tau-lepton decays, automated and simultaneous use of many versions of form factors for the calculation of optional weights for fits was developed and checked to work in the Belle and BaBar software environment. Alternative parameterizations of hadronic currents based on the Resonance Chiral appro…
We perform a detailed analysis of several mu-tau lepton flavour violating (LFV) processes, namely tau --> mu X (X = gamma, e+ e-, mu+ mu-, rho, pi, eta, eta'), Z --> mu tau and Higgs boson decays into mu tau. First we present a model independent operator analysis relevant to such decays, then we explicitly compute the LFV operator coefficients [and (g_μ-2)] in a general unconstrained MSSM framework, allowing slepton mass matrices to have large mu-tau entries. We systematically study the role and the interplay of dipole and non-dipole operators, showing how the rates and the mutual correlations…
We study a new supersymmetric mechanism for lepton flavour violation in muon and tau decays and muon -> e conversion in nuclei, within a minimal extension of the MSSM with low-mass heavy singlet neutrinos and sneutrinos. We find that the decays mu -> e gamma, tau -> e gamma and tau -> mu gamma are forbidden in the supersymmetric limit of the theory, whereas other processes, such as mu -> eee, mu -> e conversion, tau -> eee and tau -> e mu mu, are allowed and can be dramatically enhanced several orders of magnitude above the observable level by potentially large neutrino Yukawa coupling effects…
We discuss some key issues associated with duality-violating and non-perturbative OPE contributions to the theoretical representations of light quark current-current two-point functions and relevant to precision determinations of alpha_s from hadronic tau decay and electroproduction cross-section data. We demonstrate that analyses with an explicit representation of duality-violating effects are required to bring theoretical errors in such extractions under control, motivating the accompanying paper in these proceedings, which presents the results of such an analysis.
In this work we study the Lepton Flavour Violating semileptonic tau --> mu f0(980) decay within the context of SUSY-Seesaw Models, where the MSSM spectrum is extended by three right handed neutrinos and their SUSY partners, and where the seesaw mechanism is used to generate the neutrino masses. We estimate its decay rate when it proceeds via the Higgs mediated channel tau --> mu H* --> mu f0(980), where H refers to the CP-even MSSM Higgs bosons h^0 and H^0, and the Lepton Flavour Violating tau mu H vertex is radiatively generated via SUSY loops. In order to describe the f0(980) meson we follow…
We discuss the quantitative impact of duality violations on the determination of the strong coupling constant from hadronic tau decays, based on a preliminary analysis of OPAL data.
We consider CP-violating effects in tau -> 3 pi nu_ tau and 4 pi nu_ tau (Delta S = 0), and tau -> K pi pi nu_tau (Delta S = 1), assuming that the usual Standard Model amplitudes for these processes interfere with analogous amplitudes mediated by a charged Higgs boson. In the Delta S = 0 case we focus specifically on the intermediate resonant processes tau -> V pi nu_tau (with V=omega, rho, and a_1), and consider three CP-odd observables -- the partial rate asymmetry, a polarization-dependent asymmetry and a triple-product asymmetry. In the Delta S = 1 case we examine the partial rate asymmetr…
Motivated by flavour symmetry models, we construct theories based on a low-energy limit featuring lepton flavour triality that have the flavour-violating decays $τ^\pm \to μ^\pm μ^\pm e^\mp$ and $τ^\pm \to e^\pm e^\pm μ^\mp$ as the main phenomenological signatures of physics beyond the standard model. These decay modes are expected to be probed in the near future with increased sensitivity by the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB collider. The simple standard model extensions featured have doubly-charged scalars as the mediators of the above decay processes. The phenomenology of these exten…
We study the sensitivity of the HELLAZ and Borexino solar neutrino experiments on discriminating the neutrino species nu_e, anti-nu_e, nu_{mu,tau}, anti-nu_{mu,tau}, and nu_{sterile} using the difference in the recoil electron kinetic energy spectra in elastic neutrino-electron scattering. We find that one can observe a non-vanishing nu_{mu,tau} component in the solar neutrino flux, especially when the nu_e survival probability is low. Also, if the data turn out to be consistent with nu_e <-> nu_{mu,tau} oscillations, an anti-nu_e component can be excluded effectively.
We compute the lepton flavour violating couplings of Higgs bosons in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, and show that they can induce the decays (h,H,A) --> mu tau at non-negligible rates, for large tan(beta) and sizeable smuon-stau mixing. We also discuss the prospects for detecting such decays at LHC and other colliders, as well as the correlation with other flavour violating processes, such as tau --> mu gamma and tau --> 3 mu.
The QCD analysis of hadronic tau decays is reviewed and a summary of the present phenomenological status is presented. The following topics are discussed: the determination of alpha_s(m_tau) = 0.338 +- 0.012 from the inclusive tau hadronic width, the measurement of |V_us| through the Cabibbo-suppressed decays of the tau, and the extraction of chiral-perturbation-theory couplings from the spectral tau data.
A critical review of hadronic tau decay data based determinations of |V_{us}| is given, focussing on the impact of the slow convergence of the integrated D=2 OPE series for the conventional flavor-breaking sum rule determination and the potential role of as-yet-unmeasured multiparticle contributions to the strange spectral distribution. Additional information obtainable from analyses of inclusive strange decay data alone, and from mixed electroproduction-tau sum rules with much reduced OPE uncertainties, is also discussed. Self-consistency tests are shown to favor determinations which reduce s…
The new hadronic currents implemented in the TAUOLA library are obtained in the unified and consistent framework of Resonance Chiral Theory: a Lagrangian approach in which the resonances exchanged in the hadronic tau decays are active degrees of freedom included in a way that reproduces the low-energy results of Chiral Perturbation Theory. The short-distance QCD constraints on the imaginary part of the spin-one correlators yield relations among the couplings that render the theory predictive. In this communication, the obtaining of the two- and three-meson form factors is sketched. One of the …
The new parameterization of form factors developed for 4pi channels of the tau lepton decay and based on Novosibirsk data on e^+e^- -> 4pi has been coded in a form suitable for the TAUOLA Monte Carlo package. Comparison with results from TAUOLA using another parameterization, i.e. the CLEO version of 1998 is also included.
We first study the hadronic lepton flavor violating tau decays within the littlest Higgs model with T-parity (including one or two pseudoscalars, or a vector resonance). We consider the case where only T-odd particles and partner fermions contribute, and also its extension including Majorana neutrinos coming from an inverse seesaw. In both cases our mean values lie only one order of magnitude below current upper limits, strengthening the case of searching for these decays in the quest for new physics.
It is known that the discrepancy in pion spectral functions extracted from positron-electron annihilation and tau decay leads to different predictions for the muon anomalous magnetic moment. We will show that this discrepancy effects also the extraction of the Cabibbo angle from the hadronic tau decays. The corrections to the tau branching fractions, corresponding to the presence of new centi-weak tensor interactions, allow us to extract the Cabibbo angle from tau decays in agreement with its other precision determinations. Thus a more precise value of |V_us|=0.2246 +/- 0.0012 is obtained and …
We review theoretical approaches to form factors that arise in heavy-meson decays and are hadronic expressions of non-perturbative QCD. After motivating their origin in QCD factorisation, we retrace their evolution from quark-model calculations to non-perturbative QCD techniques with an emphasis on formulations of truncated heavy-light amplitudes based upon Dyson-Schwinger equations. We compare model predictions exemplarily for the B\toπtransition form factor and discuss new results for the g_{D*Dπ} coupling in the hadronic D* decay.
The determination of alpha_s from hadronic tau decays is impeded by the fact that two choices for the renormalisation group resummation, namely fixed-order (FOPT) and contour-improved perturbation theory (CIPT), yield systematically differing results. On the basis of a model for higher-order terms in the perturbative series, which incorporates well-known structure from renormalons, it is found that FOPT smoothly approaches the Borel sum for the tau hadronic width, while CIPT is unable to account for the resummed series. An example for the behaviour of QCD spectral function moments, displaying …
TAUOLA is a Monte Carlo generator dedicated to generating tau-lepton decays and it is used in the analysis of experimental data both at B-factories and LHC. TAUOLA is a long-term project that started in the 90's and has been under development up to now. In this note we discuss the status of the predominant hadronic tau-lepton decays into two ($Br \simeq 25.52\%$) and three pions ($Br \simeq 18.67\%$).
Singly and doubly charged Higgs bosons in the Higgs Triplet Model mediate the lepton flavour violating (LFV) decays tau to \bar{l}ll and mu to e gamma. The LFV decay rates are proportional to products of two triplet Yukawa couplings (h_{ij}) which can be expressed in terms of the parameters of the neutrino mass matrix and an unknown triplet vacuum expectation value. We determine the parameter space of the neutrino mass matrix in which a signal for tau to \bar{l}ll and/or mu to e gamma is possible at ongoing and planned experiments. The conditions for respecting the stringent upper limit for mu…
ALEPH/OPAL data on the V-A spectral functions from hadronic tau decays are used in connection with a set of Laplace transform sum rules (LSR) for fixing the size of the QCD vacuum condensates up to dimension 18. Our results favour the ones from large-N_c QCD within the Minimal Hadronic Approximation (MHA) and show a violation of about a factor 2-5 of the vacuum saturation estimate of the dimension-six to -ten condensates. We scrutinize the different determinations of the QCD vacuum condensates using tau-decays data. After revisiting some of the existing results, we present coherent values of t…
In the framework of the Standard Model we calculate the flavour non-universal correction for neutrino refraction in a neutrino background and verify a similar previous result for the case of ordinary-matter background. The dominant term arises at loop level and involves tau leptons circulating in the loop. These O(G_F m_tau^2) corrections to the tree-level potential provide the dominant refractive difference between nu_mu and nu_tau unless the medium contains mu or tau leptons. Our results affect the flavour evolution of dense neutrino gases and may be of interest for collective three-flavour …
We consider sparticle decays that violate tau lepton number, motivated by neutrino oscillation data. We work in the context of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (CMSSM), in which the different sleptons have identical masses at the GUT scale, and neutrino Dirac Yukawa couplings mix them. We find that the branching ratio for decay of the heavier neutralino chi_2 to chi + tau mu is enhanced when the LSP mass m_chi = m_stau_1, including the region of CMSSM parameter space where coannihilation keeps the relic chi density within the range preferred by cosmology. …
Various complications encountered in the process of attempting to extract the basic Standard Model parameters, m_s and V_us, from hadronic tau decay data are discussed. Preliminary results for V_us, based on sum rules displaying good convergence and stability, are also presented.
Until recently, determinations of alpha_s(M_Z) from hadronic tau decays and the analysis of short-distance-sensitive lattice observables yielded results which, though precise, were not in good agreement. I review new analyses that bring these into good agreement and provide some details on the source of the main changes in the tau decay analysis.
We calculate the rates for the charged lepton flavour violating (LFV) decays l_i -> l_j gamma, tau -> l pi, tau -> l eta('), mu^- -> e^-e^+e^-, the six three-body leptonic decays tau^- -> l_i^- l_j^+ l_k^- and the rate for mu-e conversion in nuclei in the Standard Model (SM3) extended by a fourth generation of quarks and leptons (SM4), assuming that neutrinos are Dirac particles. We also calculate branching ratios for K_L -> mu e, K_L -> pi^0 mu e, B_{d,s} -> mu e, B_{d,s} -> tau e and B_{d,s} -> tau mu. We find that the pattern of the LFV branching ratios in the SM4 differs significantly from…