Chiral effective action of QCD: Precision tests, questions and electroweak extensions

This talk first discusses some aspects of the chiral expansion with three light flavours related to the (non) applicability of the OZI rule. Next, the extension of ChPT to an effective theory of the full standard model is considered. Some applications of a systematic description of the coupling constants by sum rules (e.g. to the determination of quark masses and $K_{l3}$ decays) are presented.Comment: 6 pages, plenary talk at the International Conference on QCD and Hadronic physics, Beijing 16-20 June 200

Reanalysis of the Das et al. sum rule and application to chiral O(p4)O(p^4) parameters

A sum rule due to Das et al. is reanalyzed using a euclidian space approach and a Pad\'e resummation procedure. It is shown that the result is essentially determined by the matrix elements of dimension six and dimension eight operators which have recently been measured by the ALEPH collaboration. The result is further improved by using the vector spectral function which must be extrapolated to the chiral limit. This extrapolation is shown to be reliably performed under the constraint of a set of sum rules. The sum rule is employed not as an approximation to $M_{\pi^+}-M_{\pi^0}$ but as an exact result for a chiral low-energy parameter. A sufficiently precise evaluation provides also an estimate for a combination of subleading electromagnetic low-energy parameters.Comment: 20 pages, Late

Radiative corrections in weak semi-leptoni processes at low energy: a two-step matching determination

We focus on the chiral Lagrangian couplings describing radiative corrections to weak semi-leptonic decays and relate them to the decay amplitude of a lepton, computed by Braaten and Li at one loop in the Standard Model. For this purpose, we follow a two-step procedure. A first matching, from the Standard Model to Fermi theory, yields a relevant set of counterterms. The latter are related to chiral couplings thanks to a second matching, from Fermi theory to the chiral Lagrangian, which is performed using the spurion method. We show that the chiral couplings of physical relevance obey integral representations in a closed form, expressed in terms of QCD chiral correlators and vertex functions. We deduce exact relations among the couplings, as well as numerical estimates which go beyond the usual $\log(M\_Z/M\_\rho)$ approximation.Comment: 28 pages, late

Single pion contribution to the hyperfine splitting in muonic hydrogen

A detailed discussion of the long-range one-pion exchange (Yukawa potential) contribution to the 2S hyperfine splitting in muonic hydrogen which had, until recently, been disregarded is presented. We evaluate the relevant vertex amplitudes, in particular $\pi^0\mu^+\mu^-$, combining low energy chiral expansions together with experimental data on $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ decays into two leptons. A value of $\Delta{E}^\pi_{HFS}= -(0.09 \pm 0.06)\ \mu\rm{eV}$ is obtained for this contribution.Comment: v2: Expanded and completed versio

A dispersive study of final-state interactions in K→πππK\to\pi\pi\pi amplitudes

A system of dispersive representations of the Omn\`es-Khuri-Treiman-Sawyer-Wali type for the final-state interactions in the amplitudes of the $K\to\pi\pi\pi$ weak transitions is constructed, under the assumptions that CP and isospin symmetries are conserved. Both the $\Delta I = 1/2$ and $\Delta I = 3/2$ transition channels are considered. The set of single-variable functions involved in these representations is identified, and the polynomial ambiguities in their definitions are discussed. Numerical solutions for the system of coupled integral relations satisfied by these functions are provided, and the determination of the subtraction constants in terms of the experimental information on the amplitudes in the decay region is addressed.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures, Ancillary files:i) README.pdf ii) Numerical tables for the set of fundamental solutions of the integral equations iii) Numerical values of the S and P-wave $\pi \pi$ phase shift

Chiral expansions of the pi0 lifetime

The corrections induced by light quark masses to the current algebra result for the $\pi^0$ lifetime are reexamined. We consider NNLO corrections and we compute all the one-loop and the two-loop diagrams which contribute to the decay amplitude at NNLO in the two-flavour chiral expansion. We show that the result is renormalizable, as Weinberg consistency conditions are satisfied. We find that chiral logarithms are present at this order unlike the case at NLO. The result could be used in conjunction with lattice QCD simulations, the feasibility of which was recently demonstrated. We discuss the matching between the two-flavour and the three-flavour chiral expansions in the anomalous sector at order one-loop and derive the relations between the coupling constants. A modified chiral counting is proposed, in which $m_s$ counts as $O(p)$. We have updated the various inputs needed and used this to make a phenomenological prediction.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure; v2: comments and references added, accepted for publication in PR

On the role of vector mesons in topological soliton stability

Isospin one vector mesons (in particular the $\rho$) are usually described as massive Yang-Mills particles in the chiral Lagrangian. We investigate some aspects of an alternative approach in the soliton sector. It is found that the soliton is stable in very much the same way as with the $\omega$-meson and that spontaneous parity violating classical solutions do not exist. The formulation in terms of antisymmetric tensors is shown to be canonically related to a vector field description provided the Skyrme term is added to the latter.Comment: 10 pages, plain TEX, 1 figure (not included) IPN Orsay report IPNO/TH 92-8

Electromagnetic corrections in the anomaly sector

Chiral perturbation theory in the anomaly sector for $N_f=2$ is extended to include dynamical photons, thereby allowing a complete treatment of isospin breaking. A minimal set of independent chiral lagrangian terms is determined and the divergence structure is worked out. There are contributions from irreducible and also from reducible one-loop graphs, a feature of ChPT at order larger than four. The generating functional is non-anomalous at order $e^2p^4$, but not necessarily at higher order in $e^2$. Practical applications to $\gamma\pi\to\pi\pi$ and to the $\pi^0\to2\gamma$ amplitudes are considered. In the latter case, a complete discussion of the corrections beyond current algebra is presented including quark mass as well as electromagnetic effects.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figure

Splitting Strong and Electromagnetic Interactions in K(L4) Decays

We recently considered $K_{\ell 4}$ decays in the framework of chiral perturbation theory based on the effective Lagrangian including mesons, photons, and leptons. There, we published analytic one-loop-level expressions for form factors $f$ and $g$ corresponding to the mixed process, $K^0\to\pi^0\pi^-\ell^+\nu_{\ell}$. We propose here a possible splitting between strong and electromagnetic parts allowing analytic (and numerical) evaluation of Isospin breaking corrections. The latter are sensitive to the infrared divergence subtraction scheme and are sizeable near the $\pi\pi$ production threshold. Our results should be used for the extraction of the $P$-wave iso-vector $\pi\pi$ phase shift from the outgoing data of the currently running KTeV experiment at FNAL.Comment: 47 pages, LaTeX, 6 postscript figure