13,750 research outputs found

    A gauge-independent approach to resonant transition amplitudes

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    We present a new gauge-independent approach to resonant transition amplitudes with nonconserved external currents, based on the pinch technique method. In the context of 2\to 2 and 2\to 3 scattering processes, we show explicitly that the analytic results derived respect U(1)_{em} gauge symmetry and do not depend on the choice of the SU(2)_L gauge fixing. Our analytic approach treats, on equal footing, fermionic as well as bosonic contributions to the resummed gauge boson propagators, does not contain any residual space-like threshold terms, shows the correct high-energy unitarity behaviour, admits renormalization, and satisfies a number of other required properties, including the optical theorem. Even though our analysis has mainly focused on the Standard Model gauge bosons, our method can easily be extended to the top quark, and be directly applied to the study of unstable particles present in renormalizable models of new physics

    Gauge invariance and unstable particles

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    A gauge-independent approach to resonant transition amplitudes with nonconserved external currents is presented, which is implemented by the pinch technique. The analytic expressions derived with this method are U(1)_{em} invariant, independent of the choice of the gauge-fixing parameter, and satisfy a number of required theoretical properties, including unitarity. Although special attention is paid to resonant scatterings involving the \gamma WW and ZWW vertices in the minimal Standard Model, our approach can be extended to the top quark or other unstable particles appearing in renormalizable models of new physics

    Gauge-Independent Approach to Resonant Dark Matter Annihilation

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    In spontaneously broken gauge theories, transition amplitudes describing dark-matter (DM) annihilation processes through a resonance may become highly inaccurate close to a production threshold, if a Breit-Wigner (BW) ansatz with a constant width is used. To partially overcome this problem, the BW propagator needs to be modified by including a momentum dependent decay width. However, such an approach to resonant transition amplitudes generically suffers from gauge artefacts that may also give rise to a bad or ambiguous high-energy behaviour for such amplitudes. We address the two problems of gauge dependence and high-energy unitarity within a gauge-independent framework of resummation implemented by the so-called Pinch Technique. We study DM annihilation via scalar resonances in a gauged U(1)X_X complex-scalar extension of the Standard Model that features a massive stable gauge field which can play the role of the DM. We find that the predictions for the DM abundance may vary significantly from previous studies based on the naive BW ansatz and propose an alternative simple approximation which leads to the correct DM phenomenology. In particular, our results do not depend on the gauge-fixing parameter and are consistent with considerations from high-energy unitarity.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures, v2: minor typos corrected, matches published versio

    Parity-Violating Excitation of the \Delta(1232): Hadron Structure and New Physics

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    We consider prospects for studying the parity-violating (PV) electroweak excitation of the \Delta(1232) resonance with polarized electron scattering. Given present knowledge of Standard Model parameters, such PV experiments could allow a determination of the N -> \Delta electroweak helicity amplitudes. We discuss the experimental feasibility and theoretical interpretability of such a determination as well as the prospective implications for hadron structure theory. We also analyze the extent to which a PV N -> \Delta measurement could constrain various extensions of the Standard Model.Comment: 43 pages, RevTex, 8 PS figures, uses epsf.sty, rotate.sty, version to appear in Nucl. Phys. A, main points emphasized, some typos correcte

    Regge-plus-resonance predictions for kaon photoproduction from the neutron

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    We present predictions for n(gamma,K+)Sigma- differential cross sections and photon-beam asymmetries and compare them to recent LEPS data. We adapt a Regge-plus-resonance (RPR) model developed to describe photoinduced and electroinduced kaon production off protons. The non-resonant contributions to the amplitude are modelled in terms of K+(494) and K*+(892) Regge-trajectory exchange. This amplitude is supplemented with a selection of s-channel resonance diagrams. The three Regge-model parameters of the n(gamma,K+)Sigma- amplitude are derived from the ones fitted to proton data through SU(2) isospin considerations. A fair description of the n(gamma,K+)Sigma- data is realized, which demonstrates the Regge model's robustness and predictive power. Conversion of the resonances' couplings from the proton to the neutron is more challenging, as it requires knowledge of the photocoupling helicity amplitudes. We illustrate how the uncertainties of the helicity amplitudes propagate and heavily restrain the predictive power of the RPR and isobar models for kaon production off neutron targets.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures; Minor revisions; Published in Physics Letters

    The Complex-Mass Scheme and Unitarity in perturbative Quantum Field Theory

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    We investigate unitarity within the Complex-Mass Scheme, a convenient universal scheme for perturbative calculations involving unstable particles in Quantum Field Theory which guarantees exact gauge invariance. Since this scheme requires to introduce complex masses and complex couplings, the Cutkosky cutting rules, which express perturbative unitarity in theories of stable particles, are no longer valid. We derive corresponding rules for scalar theories with unstable particles based on Veltman's Largest-Time Equation and prove unitarity in this framework.Comment: 25 pages, PDFLaTeX, PDF figures, improved and slightly extended version appeared in European Physics Journal

    CP Violation and Baryogenesis due to Heavy Majorana Neutrinos

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    We analyze the scenario of baryogenesis through leptogenesis induced by the out-of-equilibrium decays of heavy Majorana neutrinos and pay special attention to CP violation. Extending a recently proposed resummation formalism for two-fermion mixing to decay amplitudes, we calculate the resonant phenomenon of CP violation due to the mixing of two nearly degenerate heavy Majorana neutrinos. Solving numerically the relevant Boltzmann equations, we find that the isosinglet Majorana mass may range from 1 TeV up to the grand unification scale, depending on the mechanism of CP violation and/or the flavour structure of the neutrino mass matrix assumed. Finite temperature effects and possible constraints from the electric dipole moment of electron and other low-energy experiments are briefly discussed.Comment: 46 pages, LaTeX, 4 encapsulated figures include
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