Abstract: Kaon decays are an important testing ground of the electroweak flavour theory. They can provide new signals of CP violation and, perhaps, a window into physics beyond the Standard Model. At the same time, they exhibit an interesting interplay of long-distance QCD effects in flavour-changing transitions. A brief overview is presented, focusing on a few selected topics of particular interest such as the extraction of the Cabibbo angle or the rare K decays into a single pion and neutrinos. The present understanding of the dominant kaon decays into two pions will be compared with results from recent lattice simulations, and the value of the CP-violating ratio epsilon'/epsilon will be discussed.
This colloquium is part of the "Landelijk Seminarium @ Nikhef/CWI, Z011"
