A study on radiative pion capture as a source of background in the search for muon to electron conversion at the Mu2e experiment.

The following thesis will cover the process of radiative pion capture in the Mu2e experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Radiative pion capture (RPC) is a process that is able to mimic the signal of an electron spawned from the neutrino-less conversion of a muon. In this paper we will discuss the current Standard Model accepted by physicists, and discuss charged lepton flavor violation, which is the motivation behind Mu2e. This paper will cover the theory behind Mu2e and RPC, as well as the apparatus involved in the Mu2e experiment. Next, software and simulations used to carry out the RPC study will be explained in detail. Following this discussion, final results of this background study will be presented. These results indicate that the RPC process is estimated to have little effect on the Mu2e experiment throughout its lifetime