Transition from a relativistic constituent-quark model to the quantum-chromodynamical asymptotics: a quantitative description of the pion electromagnetic form factor at intermediate values of the momentum transfer

We adopt a non-perturbative relativistic constituent-quark model for the pi-meson electromagnetic form factor, which have successfully predicted experimental results, and supplement it with the effective momentum-dependent quark mass to study quantitatively the transition to the perturbative QCD asymptotics. The required asymptotical behaviour (including both the Q^{-2} fall-off and the correct coefficient) settles down automatically when the quark mass is switched off; however, the present experimental data on the form factor suggest that this cannot happen at the values of the momentum transfer below ~10 GeV^2. The effective constituent-quark mass below this scale acquires substantial non-perturbative contributions.Comment: 7 pages, RevTex 4.1, 5 figures. V2: a reference added, minor textual changes, version accepted by Phys. Rev.

Three fermionic generations on a topological defect in extra dimensions

We suggest a mechanism explaining the origin of three generations of the Standard Model fermions from one generation in a higher-dimensional theory. Four-dimensional fermions appear as zero modes trapped in the core of a topological defect with topological number three. We discuss hierarchical pattern of masses and mixings which arises in these models.Comment: 19 pages, no figures; v.2: references added, main text unchange

Estimate of the correlation signal between cosmic rays and BL Lacs in future data

The existing correlation between BL Lacertae objects (BL Lacs) and cosmic-ray events observed by HiRes experiment provide sufficient information to formulate quantitatively the hypothesis about the flux of neutral cosmic-ray particles originated from BL Lacs. We determine the potential of future cosmic ray experiments to test this hypothesis by predicting the number of coincidences between arrival directions of cosmic rays and positions of BL Lacs on the celestial sphere, which should be observed in the future datasets. We find that the early Pierre Auger data will not have enough events to address this question. On the contrary, the final Pierre Auger data and the early Telescope Array data will be sufficient to fully test this hypothesis. If confirmed, it would imply the existence of highest-energy neutral particles coming from cosmological distances.Comment: 5 page