Decoupling heavy particles simultaneously

The renormalization group is extended to cases where several heavy particles are decoupled at the same time. This involves large logarithms which are scale-invariant and so cannot be eliminated by a change of renormalization scheme. A set of scale-invariant running couplings, one for each heavy particle, is constructed without reference to intermediate thresholds. The entire heavy-quark correction to the axial charge of the weak neutral current is derived to next-to-leading order, and checked in leading order by evaluating diagrams explicitly. The mechanism for cancelling contributions from the top and bottom quarks in the equal-mass limit is surprisingly non-trivial.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Talk presented at the "QCD Down Under" Workshop, Barossa Valley and Adelaide, Australia, 10-19 March 2004, with ref 8 now linked to hep-ph/050727

The relevance of polarized bZ production at LHC

We consider the Z polarization asymmetry A_Z=(sigma(Z_R)-sigma(Z_L))/(sigma(Z_R)+sigma(Z_L)) in the process of associated bZ production at the LHC. We show that in the Standard Model (SM) this quantity is essentially given by its Born approximation, remaining almost unaffected by QCD scales and parton distribution functions variations as well as by electroweak corrections. The theoretical quantity that appears in A_Z is the same that provides the LEP1 Z -> b bbar forward-backward asymmetry, the only measured observable still in some contradiction with the SM prediction. In this sense, A_Z would provide the possibility of an independent verification of the possible SM discrepancy, which could reach, if consistency with LEP1 measurements is imposed, values of the relative ten percent size.Comment: 10 pages, 5 eps figure

Running couplings for the simultaneous decoupling of heavy quarks

Scale-invariant running couplings are constructed for several quarks being decoupled together, without reference to intermediate thresholds. Large-momentum scales can also be included. The result is a multi-scale generalization of the renormalization group applicable to any order. Inconsistencies in the usual decoupling procedure with a single running coupling can then be avoided, e.g. when cancelling anomalous corrections from t,b quarks to the axial charge of the proton.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, version to appear in PLB. Pages 8-11 and Fig. 1 are new, with consequent changes to the abstract, page 2, and the references. We show that our multi-scale renormalization group is needed to achieve anomaly cancellation in t,b decoupling from the weak neutral current, and extend it to include large moment

Excited Leptons at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

We analyze the potential of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to search for excited spin-1/2 electrons and neutrinos. Assuming a SU(2)_L X U(1)_Y invariant model, we study in detail the single production of excited electrons and neutrinos and respective backgrounds through the reactions p p -> e+ e- V and e+- \nu V with V=photon, W, or Z. We show that the LHC will be able to tighten considerably the direct constraints on these possible new states, probing excited lepton masses up to 1-2 TeV depending on their couplings to fermions and gauge bosons.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

Evading the CKM Hierarchy: Intrinsic Charm in B Decays

We show that the presence of intrinsic charm in the hadrons' light-cone wave functions, even at a few percent level, provides new, competitive decay mechanisms for B decays which are nominally CKM-suppressed. For example, the weak decays of the B-meson to two-body exclusive states consisting of strange plus light hadrons, such as B\to\pi K, are expected to be dominated by penguin contributions since the tree-level b\to s u\bar u decay is CKM suppressed. However, higher Fock states in the B wave function containing charm quark pairs can mediate the decay via a CKM-favored b\to s c\bar c tree-level transition. Such intrinsic charm contributions can be phenomenologically significant. Since they mimic the amplitude structure of ``charming'' penguin contributions, charming penguins need not be penguins at all.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures, published version. References added, minor change

SU(4) Chiral Quark Model with Configuration Mixing

Chiral quark model with configuration mixing and broken SU(3)\times U(1) symmetry has been extended to include the contribution from c\bar c fluctuations by considering broken SU(4) instead of SU(3). The implications of such a model have been studied for quark flavor and spin distribution functions corresponding to E866 and the NMC data. The predicted parameters regarding the charm spin distribution functions, for example, \Delta c, \frac{\Delta c}{{\Delta \Sigma}}, \frac{\Delta c}{c} as well as the charm quark distribution functions, for example, \bar c, \frac{2\bar c}{(\bar u+\bar d)}, \frac{2 \bar c}{(u+d)} and \frac{(c+ \bar c)}{\sum (q+\bar q)} are in agreement with other similar calculations. Specifically, we find \Delta c=-0.009, \frac{\Delta c}{{\Delta \Sigma}}=-0.02, \bar c=0.03 and \frac{(c+ \bar c)}{\sum (q+\bar q)}=0.02 for the \chiQM parameters a=0.1, \alpha=0.4, \beta=0.7, \zeta_{E866}=-1-2 \beta, \zeta_{NMC}=-2-2 \beta and \gamma=0.3, the latter appears due to the extension of SU(3) to SU(4).Comment: 10 RevTeX pages. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Vector mesons in a relativistic point-form approach

We apply the point form of relativistic quantum mechanics to develop a Poincare invariant coupled-channel formalism for two-particle systems interacting via one-particle exchange. This approach takes the exchange particle explicitly into account and leads to a generalized eigenvalue equation for the Bakamjian-Thomas type mass operator of the system. The coupling of the exchange particle is derived from quantum field theory. As an illustrative example we consider vector mesons within the chiral constituent quark model in which the hyperfine interaction between the confined quark-antiquark pair is generated by Goldstone-boson exchange. We study the effect of retardation in the Goldstone-boson exchange by comparing with the commonly used instantaneous approximation. As a nice physical feature we find that the problem of a too large $\rho$-$\omega$ splitting can nearly be avoided by taking the dynamics of the exchange meson explicitly into account.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur

Real and Virtual Compton Scattering off the Nucleon

A review is given of the very recent developments in the fields of real and virtual Compton scattering off the nucleon. Both real and virtual Compton scattering reactions are discussed at low outgoing photon energy where one accesses polarizabilities of the nucleon. The real Compton scattering at large momentum transfer is discussed which is asymptotically a tool to obtain information on the valence quark wave function of the nucleon. The rapid developments in deeply virtual Compton scattering and associated meson electroproduction reactions at high energy, high photon virtuality and small momentum transfer to the nucleon are discussed. A unified theoretical description of those processes has emerged over the last few years, which gives access to new, generalized parton distributions. The experimental status and perspectives in these fields are also discussed.Comment: 25 pages, 17 figure

Parton interactions in the Bjorken limit of QCD

We consider the Bjorken limit in the framework of the effective action approach and discuss its similarities to the Regge limit. The proposed effective action allows for a rather simple calculation of the known evolution kernels. We represent the result in terms of two-parton interaction operators involving gluon and quark operators depending on light-ray position and helicity and analyze their symmetry properties.Comment: 32 pages LaTex, 4 eps-figures, comments added, minor correction

Interactions between proteins bound to biomembranes

We study a physical model for the interaction between general inclusions bound to fluid membranes that possess finite tension, as well as the usual bending rigidity. We are motivated by an interest in proteins bound to cell membranes that apply forces to these membranes, due to either entropic or direct chemical interactions. We find an exact analytic solution for the repulsive interaction between two similar circularly symmetric inclusions. This repulsion extends over length scales of order tens of nanometers, and contrasts with the membrane-mediated contact attraction for similar inclusions on tensionless membranes. For non circularly symmetric inclusions we study the small, algebraically long-ranged, attractive contribution to the force that arises. We discuss the relevance of our results to biological phenomena, such as the budding of caveolae from cell membranes and the striations that are observed on their coats.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figure