Testing charged lepton flavor violation and universality with pions, muons, and kaons

Since the discovery of the muon, the lack of understanding of flavor is one of the most intriguing and persistent problems in particle physics. Many hypotheses which extend the Standard Model suggest charged lepton flavor violation and non-universal interactions could occur and be due to effects at higher mass scales, possibly approaching 1000 TeV. Exceptionally sensitive and precise experiments have been performed and new ones are planned seeking such effects which might provide clues to understanding why there are exactly three replicas of each type of fundamental particle. Some hints of non-SM effects have been reported in third generation studies. A review of experiments searching for charged lepton flavor violation and probing the validity of lepton universality in decays and interactions of first and second generation particles, pions, muons, and kaons, will be presented.