B0bar decays to D(*)0 eta and D(*)0 eta'

We consider the hadronic B decays B0bar -> D0 eta, B0bar -> D*0 eta, B0bar -> D0 eta', B0bar -> D*0 eta' in the framework of a quark-flavour basis and factorization. The formalism allows to compute the decays to the eta meson and to relate them to those of the eta'. Measuring the branching ratios of these processes may shed light on the nature of the eta-eta' mixing. On the experimental side, only upper limits on the branching ratios are known at present.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables (LaTeX, revtex), minor revision: note added at the end concerning new data and few reference

Jet Shapes in Opaque Media

We present general arguments, based on medium-induced radiative energy loss, which reproduce the non-gaussian shapes of away-side di-jet azimuthal correlations found in nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC. A rather simple generalization of the Sudakov form factors to opaque media allowing an effective description of the experimental data is proposed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 ps figure

Exotic Heavy Quarkonium Spectroscopy: A Mini-review

Since nine years experiments have been observing a host of exotic states decaying into heavy quarkonia. The interpretation of most of them still remains uncertain and, in some cases, controversial, notwithstanding a considerable progress has been made on the quality of the experimental information available and a number of ideas and models have been put forward to explain the observations. In this mini-review we will summarize the measurements, with the most recent updates, and list the useful ones yet to be done. We will discuss the problem of the spin of the X, which could hide some major surprise on its interpretation, and review some more phenomenological issues debated in the field.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, 5 tables. To appear in Mod. Phys. Lett.

Diquark-antidiquark states with hidden or open charm

Some features and predictions of a recently proposed model based on diquark-antidiquark bound states are illustrated. Its ability in accomodating newly discovered charmed resonances around 4 GeV is discussed.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the HEP2005 International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, July 21st-27th 2005, Lisboa, Portuga

A bbbˉbˉbb\bar b\bar b di-bottomonium at the LHC?

We study the case of a di-bottomonium $bb\bar b\bar b$ particle at the LHC. Its mass and decay width are obtained within a new model of diquark-antidiquark interactions in tetraquarks. The same model solves several open problems on the phenomenology of the experimentally better known $X,Z$ states. We show that the $bb\bar b\bar b$ tetraquark is expected approximately 100 MeV below threshold, and compare to a recent analysis by LHCb seeking it in the $\Upsilon\mu\mu$ final state.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. V2: figure added, figures corrected and updated, typo correcte

Light Dark Matter and Superfluid He-4 from EFT

We study the response of a He-4 detector to the interaction of sub-GeV dark matter using an effective field theory for the superfluid. We compute the lifetime of the phonon, which agrees with what known from standard techniques, hence providing an important check of the effective field theory. We then study the process of emission of two phonons, and show how its rate is much more suppressed than the phase space expectations; this is a consequence of the conservation of the current associated to the superfluid symmetries.Comment: Talk presented at the TAUP 2019 conference; 4 pages, 2 figure

A note on the fate of the Landau-Yang theorem in non-Abelian gauge theories

Using elementary considerations of Lorentz invariance, Bose symmetry and BRST invariance, we argue why the decay of a massive color-octet vector state into a pair of on-shell massless gluons is possible in a non-Abelian SU(N) Yang-Mills theory, we constrain the form of the amplitude of the process and offer a simple understanding of these results in terms of effective-action operators.Comment: 7 pages. v2: typos corrected, one reference adde

Relativistic corrections to polarized-tritium β decay

Forthcoming experiments such as Project 8 and Ptolemy aim at investigating with high precision the end point of the tritium β-decay spectrum sensitive to the neutrino mass. In light of this, using the standard parametrization in terms of nuclear polar form factors, we analyze the complete relativistic expression for the spectrum of the β electron emitted by a tritium nucleus. Given the small parameters in the problem, we systematically discuss the approximations that can be made, and present the first two corrections to the standard lowest-order formula. We particularly discuss the case of an initially polarized target, and the consequences on the spectrum as a function of the neutrino mass. We show that, while it induces an angular anisotropy that can be measured by future experiments, such anisotropy cannot be used as an additional handle to constrain the neutrino mass