Charm mixing in the Standard Model and beyond

The motivation most often cited in searches for D0-anti-D0 mixing and CP-violation in charm system lies with the possibility of observing a signal from New Physics which dominates that from the Standard Model. We review recent theoretical predictions and experimental constraints on D0-anti-D0 mixing parameters, concentrating on possible effects of New Physics.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Invited talk at International Workshop on Tau-Charm Physics (Charm 2006), Beijing, China, 5-7 Jun 200

B_s decays at Belle

We report recent results obtained with the Belle detector using a 23.6 fb^{-1} data sample collected on the Y(5S) resonance at the KEKB asymmetric energy e^+ e^- collider. Inclusive semileptonic B_s^0 -> X^+ l^- \nu decays are studied for the first time and the branching fraction is measured. Combining the electron and muon channels, we obtain Bf(B_s^0 -> X^+ l^- \nu) = (10.2 \pm 0.8 \pm 0.9)%. Also, the radiative penguin decay B_s^0 -> \phi \gamma is observed for the first time, and an improved upper limit for the decay B_s^0 \to \gamma \gamma is obtained.Comment: Proceedings of the EPS/HEP 2007 Conference, Manchester, England, July 2007 (on behalf of the Belle collaboration), 3 pages, 2 figure

Geometric Mean Neutrino Mass Relation

Present experimental data from neutrino oscillations have provided much information about the neutrino mixing angles. Since neutrino oscillations only determine the mass squared differences $\Delta m^2_{ij} = m^2_i - m^2_j$, the absolute values for neutrino masses $m_i$ can not be determined using data just from oscillations. In this work we study implications on neutrino masses from a geometric mean mass relation $m_2=\sqrt{m_1 m_3}$ which enables one to determined the absolute masses of the neutrinos. We find that the central values of the three neutrino masses and their $2\sigma$ errors to be $m_1 = (1.58\pm 0.18){meV}$, $m_2 = (9.04\pm 0.42){meV}$, and $m_3 = (51.8\pm 3.5){meV}$. Implications for cosmological observation, beta decay and neutrinoless double beta decays are discussed.Comment: 7 pages. Talk given at COSPA06. A reference adde

Universal Scaling of the Neel Temperature of Near-Quantum-Critical Quasi-Two-Dimensional Heisenberg Antiferromagnets

We use a quantum Monte Carlo method to calculate the Neel temperature T_N of weakly coupled S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic layers consisting of coupled ladders. This system can be tuned to different two-dimensional scaling regimes for T > T_N. In a single-layer mean-field theory, \chi_s^{2D}(T_N)=(z_2J')^{-1}, where \chi_s^{2D} is the exact staggered susceptibility of an isolated layer, J' the inter-layer coupling, and z_2=2 the layer coordination number. With a renormalized z_2, we find that this relationship applies not only in the renormalized-classical regime, as shown previously, but also in the quantum-critical regime and part of the quantum-disordered regime. The renormalization is nearly constant; k_2 ~ 0.65-0.70. We also study other universal scaling functions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Summary of Experimental Meson Physics

A summary of the present experimental status of meson physics is presented. The presentation includes the new results presented at the MESON06 workshop, as well as other recent experimental developments in the field.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, presented at 9th International Workshop on Meson Production, Properties and Interaction, Krakow, Poland, June 200

Invisible Z decay width bounds on active-sterile neutrino mixing in the (3+1) and (3+2) models

In this work we consider the standard model extended with singlet sterile neutrinos with mass in the eV range and mixed with the active neutrinos. The active-sterile neutrino mixing renders new contributions to the invisible Z decay width which, in the case of light sterile neutrinos, depends on the active-sterile mixing matrix elements only. We then use the current experimental value of the invisible Z decay width to obtain bounds on these mixing matrix elements for both (3+1) and (3+2) models.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Magnetic Excitations in the High Tc Iron Pnictides

We calculate the expected finite frequency neutron scattering intensity based on the two-sublattice collinear antiferromagnet found by recent neutron scattering experiments as well as by theoretical analysis on the iron oxypnictide LaOFeAs. We consider two types of superexchange couplings between Fe atoms: nearest-neighbor coupling J1 and next-nearest-neighbor coupling J2. We show how to distinguish experimentally between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic J1. Whereas magnetic excitations in the cuprates display a so-called resonance peak at (pi,pi) (corresponding to a saddlepoint in the magnetic spectrum) which is at a wavevector that is at least close to nesting Fermi-surface-like structures, no such corresponding excitations exist in the iron pnictides. Rather, we find saddlepoints near (pi,pi/2) and (0,pi/2)(and symmetry related points). Unlike in the cuprates, none of these vectors are close to nesting the Fermi surfaces.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Theoretical overview on tau physics

Precise measurements of the tau lepton properties provide stringent tests of the Standard Model structure and accurate determinations of its parameters. We overview the present status of a few selected topics: lepton universality, QCD tests and the determination of alpha_s, m_s and V_us from hadronic tau decays, and lepton flavor violation phenomena.Comment: Invited talk at the International Workshop on Tau-Charm Physics (Charm2006), Beijing, China, June 5-7, 2006. 8 pages, 2 figure