The strong-interaction matrix element between two spin-zero pseudoscalar mesons has only and available. The product of the two intrinsic parities is positive. An axial current would require a pseudovector constructed from these momenta, but an expression involving the Levi-Civita symbol needs three independent four-vectors and therefore vanishes. This is a consequence of parity conservation in the hadronic matrix element, not of parity conservation in the weak interaction. The vector current can have the two independent structures and . Its coefficients are Lorentz scalars; with and fixed, their only varying invariant is . Hence
These are the pseudoscalar-to-pseudoscalar form factors. With relativistically normalized states they are dimensionless. The vanishing axial matrix element and this decomposition explain the two equalities separately.
Write and for the outgoing electron and antineutrino momenta. From the Fermi interaction, an invariant scattering amplitude, up to an irrelevant overall sign or phase, is
The CKM matrix element multiplies the quark current in the convention of this interaction. Let . For massless leptons, the massless Dirac equation and chirality matrix anticommutation give
In the second term move through the chiral projector before applying . Since , this transverse massless leptonic current gives
The disappearance of uses the massless approximation; for a massive charged lepton its contraction is proportional to the lepton mass.
Use the fermion spin sum and the supplied gamma matrix trace identities. The symmetric part of the leptonic tensor is
The Levi-Civita symbol term is antisymmetric and drops out when contracted with . Thus
There is no initial-spin average because the kaon is spinless. For the integrated massless leptonic tensor, keep every factor of explicit and define the unnormalized two-lepton Lorentz-invariant phase space
The leptons are massless, so . Its trace is . Therefore
The three Lorentz-invariant phase-space measures and their momentum delta function contribute , in addition to in the decay rate. Combining them with the spin sum gives
This massless semileptonic pseudoscalar decay rate uses a two-lepton integral over future-timelike and the pion integral is restricted to the physically allowed region. The null endpoint follows by continuity. The coefficient has mass dimension , so the complete expression has mass dimension one, as a decay rate must in natural units.
In the kaon centre-of-momentum frame, put and . Then
The dimensionally consistent Källén function is
The pion-only mass term must have fourth power: the second power printed in the PDF is dimensionally inconsistent. This repair also follows directly from squaring . Angular integration and the change of variable give
where the negative sign reverses the endpoints. Combining this with the bracket yields
Thus . The lower limit is the minimum invariant mass of two massless leptons; at the upper limit the pion is at rest. The coefficient has mass dimension , while has dimension eight. The Källén function also shows why the differential decay rate vanishes at zero pion momentum.