Summary on tau Leptonic Branching Ratios and Universality

The large samples of tau decays available from CLEO and the four LEP experiment have resulted in new, precise measurements of the leptonic branching ratios of the $\tau$. The experimental techniques to obtain these results are reviewed with special emphasis on the DELPHI measurement. World averages are found to be Be = (17.81 +/- 0.06) % and Bmu = (17.36 +/- 0.06) %. These results are consistent with universality in the charged current couplings to a precision of about 0.25 %. The branching ratio measurements can also be used to constrain the "low energy parameter" eta. It is shown that the sensitivity to eta depends on details of the momentum acceptance for muon identification in the different experiments. Assuming universality in the couplings, the estimate eta = 0.012 +/- 0.024 is obtained.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, including 9 figures, uses epsf and espcrc2. Invited talk at the Fifth Intl. Workshop on Tau Lepton Physics, 14-17 September 1998, Santander (Spain

Non-classical computing: feasible versus infeasible

Physics sets certain limits on what is and is not computable. These limits are very far from having been reached by current technologies. Whilst proposals for hypercomputation are almost certainly infeasible, there are a number of non classical approaches that do hold considerable promise. There are a range of possible architectures that could be implemented on silicon that are distinctly different from the von Neumann model. Beyond this, quantum simulators, which are the quantum equivalent of analogue computers, may be constructable in the near future

New physics in b→sb\to s transitions after LHC run 1

We present results of global fits of all relevant experimental data on rare $b \to s$ decays. We observe significant tensions between the Standard Model predictions and the data. After critically reviewing the possible sources of theoretical uncertainties, we find that within the Standard Model, the tensions could be explained if there are unaccounted hadronic effects much larger than our estimates. Assuming hadronic uncertainties are estimated in a sufficiently conservative way, we discuss the implications of the experimental results on new physics, both model independently as well as in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model and models with flavour-changing $Z'$ bosons. We discuss in detail the violation of lepton flavour universality as hinted by the current data and make predictions for additional lepton flavour universality tests that can be performed in the future. We find that the ratio of the forward-backward asymmetries in $B \to K^* \mu^+\mu^-$ and $B \to K^* e^+e^-$ at low dilepton invariant mass is a particularly sensitive probe of lepton flavour universality and allows to distinguish between different new physics scenarios that give the best description of the current data.Comment: 49 pages, 12 figures. v4: matches version published in EPJ