The decay $K_L\to \mathit{\text{invisible}}$ has never been experimentally tested. In the Standard Model (SM), its branching ratio for the decay into two neutrinos is helicity suppressed and predicted to be $\mathrm{Br}(K_L\to \nu \overline{\nu })\lesssim {10}^{-10}$. We consider several natural extensions of the SM, such as two-Higgs-doublet (2HDM), 2HDM and light scalar, and mirror dark matter models, whose main feature is that they allow us to avoid the helicity suppression factor and lead to an enhanced $\mathrm{Br}(K_L\to \mathit{\text{invisible}})$. For the decay $K_L\to \nu \overline{\nu }$, the smallness of the neutrino mass in the considered 2HDM model is explained by the smallness of the second Higgs doublet vacuum expectation value. The small nonzero value of the second Higgs isodoublet can arise as a consequence of nonzero quark condensate. We show that taking into account the most stringent constraints from the $K\to \pi +\mathit{\text{invisible}}$ decay, this process could be in the region of $\mathrm{Br}(K_L\to \mathit{\text{invisible}})\simeq {10}^{-8}–{10}^{-6}$, which is experimentally accessible. In some scenarios, the $K_L\to \mathit{\text{invisible}}$ decay could still be allowed while the $K\to \pi +\mathit{\text{invisible}}$ decay is forbidden. The results obtained show that the $K_L\to \mathit{\text{invisible}}$ decay is a clean probe of new physics scales well above 100 TeV that is complementary to rare $K\to \pi +\mathit{\text{invisible}}$ decay, and they provide a strong motivation for its sensitive search in a near-future experiment.

• Received 10 March 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.92.034009