Strangeness-changing processes and the limit on the right-handed gauge-boson mass

We study strangeness-changing processes, in particular, the KL-KS mass difference and K→2π decays, in the context of left-right-symmetric gauge theories in a search for a lower bound on a scale of parity-breaking MR. We find that the previously claimed limit on MR is a function of Higgs-boson masses and also the top-quark mass and its mixings to lighter quarks. For the light t quark (Mₜ≤30 GeV), we get MR>200 GeV (for mH100 GeV), and the bound goes down with the increasing t-quark mass. Even in the case of a very heavy neutral Higgs boson (mH1 TeV), the lower limit on MR is only {~}400 GeV. We argue that the best limits on MR must come from neutral-current phenomena.