Probing new physics in electroweak penguins through B_d and B_s decays

An enhanced electroweak penguin amplitude due to the presence of unknown new physics can explain the discrepancies found between theory and experiment in the B -> pi K decays, in particular in A_CP(B^- -> pi^0 K^-) - A_CP(\bar{B}^0 -> pi^+ K^-), but the current precision of the theoretical and experimental results does not allow to draw a firm conclusion. We argue that the \bar{B}_s -> phi rho^0 and \bar{B}_s -> phi pi^0 decays offer an additional tool to investigate this possibility. These purely isospin-violating decays are dominated by electroweak penguins and we show that in presence of a new physics contribution their branching ratio can be enhanced by about an order of magnitude, without violating any constraints from other hadronic B decays. This makes them very interesting modes for LHCb and future B factories. In arXiv:1011.6319 we have performed both a model-independent analysis and a study within realistic New Physics models such as a modified-Z^0-penguin scenario, a model with an additional Z' boson and the MSSM. In this article we summarise the most important results of our study.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX. Talk given at Discrete2010, Rome, 6-11 December 2010; References adde

Recent developments in radiative B decays

We report on recent theoretical progress in radiative B decays. We focus on a calculation of logarithmically enhanced QED corrections to the branching ratio and forward-backward asymmetry in the inclusive rare decay anti-B --> X(s) l+ l-, and present the results of a detailed phenomenological analysis. We also report on the calculation of NNLO QCD corrections to the inclusive decay anti-B --> X(s) gamma. As far as exclusive modes are concerned we consider transversity amplitudes and the impact of right-handed currents in the exclusive anti-B --> K^* l+ l- decay. Finally, we state results for exclusive B --> V gamma decays, notably the time-dependent CP-asymmetry in the exclusive B --> K^* gamma decay and its potential to serve as a so-called ``null test'' of the Standard Model, and the extraction of CKM and unitarity triangle parameters from B --> (rho,omega) gamma and B --> K^* gamma decays.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in the proceedings of International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics (EPS-HEP2007), Manchester, England, 19-25 Jul 200

Terminal ileum ileoscopy and histology in patients undergoing high-definition colonoscopy with virtual chromoendoscopy for chronic nonbloody diarrhea : a prospective, multicenter study

Background and aims: Ileo-colonoscopy is the procedure of choice for chronic nonbloody diarrhea (CNBD) of unknown origin. Histological evaluation at different colonic sites is mandatory to assess the presence of microscopic colitis. However, the value of routine ileal biopsy on normal-appearing mucosa as assessed by means of standard-resolution white-light ileoscopy is controversial given its reported low diagnostic yield. Hence, we have assessed for the first time the accuracy of retrograde ileoscopy using high-definition and dyeless chromoendoscopy (HD + DLC), thereby calculating the impact and cost of routine ileal biopsy in CNBD. Methods: Patients with CNBD of unknown origin were prospectively enrolled for ileo-colonoscopy with HD + DLC at five referral centers. Multiple biopsies were systematically performed on each colorectal segment and in the terminal ileum for histopathological analysis. Results: Between 2014 and 2017, 546 consecutive patients were recruited. Retrograde ileoscopy success rate was 97.6%. A total of 492 patients (mean age: 53 \ub1 18 years) fulfilled all the inclusion criteria: Following endoscopic and histopathological work-up, 7% had lymphoid nodular hyperplasia and 3% had isolated ileitis. Compared to the histopathology as the gold standard, retrograde ileoscopy with HD + DLC showed 93% sensitivity, 98% specificity and 99.8% negative predictive value. In patients with normal ileo-colonoscopy, ileum histology had no diagnostic gain and resulted in a cost of US $26.5 per patient. Conclusions: Retrograde ileoscopy with HD + DLC predicts the presence of ileitis in CNBD with excellent performance. The histopathological evaluation of the terminal ileum is the gold standard for the diagnostic assessment of visible lesions but has no added diagnostic value in CNBD patients with negative ileo-colonoscopy inspection using modern endoscopic imaging techniques

Exploring the parameter space of texture 4 zero quark mass matrices

We have attempted to extend the parameter space of the elements of the texture 4 zero Hermitian quark mass matrices, to include the case of `weak hierarchy' amongst them along with the usually considered `strong hierarchy' case. This has been carried out by giving wide variation to the hierarchy defining parameters D_U and D_D, having implications for the structural features of the mass matrices. We find that not only the weakly hierarchical mass matrices are able to reproduce the strongly hierarchical mixing angles but also both the phases having their origin in the mass matrices have to be non zero to achieve compatibility of these matrices with recent quark mixing data. Further noting the difference between the exclusive and inclusive values of V_ub, we have carried out separate analyses corresponding to these.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, version accepted for publication in Journal Of Physics

Fast shower simulation in the ATLAS calorimeter

The time to simulate pp collisions in the ATLAS detector is largely dominated by the showering of electromagnetic particles in the heavy parts of the detector, especially the electromagnetic barrel and endcap calorimeters. Two procedures have been developed to accelerate the processing time of electromagnetic particles in these regions: (1) a fast shower parameterisation and (2) a frozen shower library. Both work by generating the response of the calorimeter to electrons and positrons with Geant 4, and then reintroduce the response into the simulation at runtime. In the fast shower parameterisation technique, a parameterisation is tuned to single electrons and used later by simulation. In the frozen shower technique, actual showers from low-energy particles are used in the simulation. Full Geant 4 simulation is used to develop showers down to ~1 GeV, at which point the shower is terminated by substituting a frozen shower. Judicious use of both techniques over the entire electromagnetic portion of the ATLAS calorimeter produces an important improvement of CPU time. We discuss the algorithms and their performance in this paper

SANC integrator in the progress: QCD and EW contributions

Modules and packages for the one-loop calculations at partonic level represent the first level of SANC output computer product. The next level represents Monte Carlo integrator mcsanc, realizing fully differential hadron level calculations (convolution with PDF) for the HEP processes at LHC. In this paper we describe the implementation into the framework mcsanc first set of processes: DY NC, DY CC, ff->HW(Z) and single top production. Both EW and QCD NLO corrections are taken into account. A comparison of SANC results with those existing in the world literature is given

Matching NLO parton shower matrix element with exact phase space: case of W -> l nu (gamma) and gamma^* -> pi^+pi^-(gamma)

The PHOTOS Monte Carlo is often used for simulation of QED effects in decay of intermediate particles and resonances. Momenta are generated in such a way that samples of events cover the whole bremsstrahlung phase space. With the help of selection cuts, experimental acceptance can be then taken into account. The program is based on an exact multiphoton phase space. Crude matrix element is obtained by iteration of a universal multidimensional kernel. It ensures exact distribution in the soft photon region. Algorithm is compatible with exclusive exponentiation. To evaluate the program's precision, it is necessary to control the kernel with the help of perturbative results. If available, kernel is constructed from the exact first order matrix element. This ensures that all terms necessary for non-leading logarithms are taken into account. In the present paper we will focus on the W -> l nu and gamma^* -> pi^+ pi^- decays. The Born level cross sections for both processes approach zero in some points of the phase space. A process dependent compensating weight is constructed to incorporate the exact matrix element, but is recommended for use in tests only. In the hard photon region, where scalar QED is not expected to be reliable, the compensating weight for gamma^* decay can be large. With respect to the total rate, the effect remains at the permille level. It is nonetheless of interest. The terms leading to the effect are analogous to some terms appearing in QCD. The present paper can be understood either as a contribution to discussion on how to match two collinear emission chains resulting from charged sources in a way compatible with the exact and complete phase space, exclusive exponentiation and the first order matrix element of QED (scalar QED), or as the practical study of predictions for accelerator experiments.Comment: 24 page

Dark Matter in SuperGUT Unification Models

After a brief update on the prospects for dark matter in the constrained version of the MSSM (CMSSM) and its differences with models based on minimal supergravity (mSUGRA), I will consider the effects of unifying the supersymmetry-breaking parameters at a scale above M_{GUT}. One of the consequences of superGUT unification, is the ability to take vanishing scalar masses at the unification scale with a neutralino LSP dark matter candidate. This allows one to resurrect no-scale supergravity as a viable phenomenological model.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figures, To be published in the Proceedings of the 6th DSU Conference, Leon, Mexico, ed. D. Delepin