1,919 research outputs found
K^+ -> pi^+pi^0e^+e^-: a novel short-distance probe
We study the decay K^+ -> pi^+ pi^0 e^+ e^-, currently under analysis by the
NA62 Collaboration at CERN. In particular, we provide a detailed analysis of
the Dalitz plot for the long-distance, gamma^*-mediated, contributions
(Bremsstrahlung, direct emission and its interference). We also examine a set
of asymmetries to isolate genuine short-distance effects. While we show that
charge asymmetries are not required to test short distances, they provide the
best environment for its detection. This constitutes by itself a strong
motivation for NA62 to study K^- decays in the future. We therefore provide a
detailed study of different charge asymmetries and the corresponding estimated
signals. Whenever possible, we make contact with the related processes K^+ ->
pi^+ pi^0 gamma and K_L -> pi^+ pi^- e^+ e^- and discuss the advantages of K^+
-> pi^+ pi^0 e^+ e^- over them.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
Flavor Alignment via Shining in RS
We present a class of warped extra dimensional models whose flavor violating
interactions are much suppressed compared to the usual anarchic case due to
flavor alignment. Such suppression can be achieved in models where part of the
global flavor symmetry is gauged in the bulk and broken in a controlled manner.
We show that the bulk masses can be aligned with the down type Yukawa couplings
by an appropriate choice of bulk flavon field representations and TeV brane
dynamics. This alignment could reduce the flavor violating effects to levels
which allow for a Kaluza-Klein scale as low as 2-3 TeV, making the model
observable at the LHC. However, the up-type Yukawa couplings on the IR brane,
which are bounded from below by recent bounds on CP violation in the D system,
induce flavor misalignment radiatively. Off-diagonal down-type Yukawa couplings
and kinetic mixings for the down quarks are both consequences of this effect.
These radiative Yukawa corrections can be reduced by raising the flavon VEV on
the IR brane (at the price of some moderate tuning), or by extending the Higgs
sector. The flavor changing effects from the radiatively induced Yukawa mixing
terms are at around the current upper experimental bounds. We also show the
generic bounds on UV-brane induced flavor violating effects, and comment on
possible additional flavor violations from bulk flavor gauge bosons and the
bulk Yukawa scalars.Comment: 28 page
TORCH: A Cherenkov Based Time-of-Flight Detector
TORCH is a novel high-precision time-of-flight detector suitable for large area applications and
covering the momentum range up to 10 GeV/c. The concept uses Cherenkov photons produced
in a fused silica radiator which are propagated to focussing optics coupled to fast photodetectors.
For this purpose, custom MCP-PMTs are being produced in collaboration with industrial partners.
The development is divided into three phases. Phase 1 addresses the lifetime requirements for
TORCH, Phase 2 will customize the MCP-PMT granularity and Phase 3 will deliver prototypes
that meet the TORCH requirements. Phase 1 devices have been successfully delivered and initial
tests show stable gain performance for integrated anode current >5 C/cm2
and a single photon
time resolution of ≤ 30 ps. Initial simulations indicate the single photon timing resolution of the
TORCH detector will be ∼70 ps
The s ---> d gamma decay in and beyond the Standard Model
The New Physics sensitivity of the s ---> d gamma transition and its
accessibility through hadronic processes are thoroughly investigated. Firstly,
the Standard Model predictions for the direct CP-violating observables in
radiative K decays are systematically improved. Besides, the magnetic
contribution to epsilon prime is estimated and found subleading, even in the
presence of New Physics, and a new strategy to resolve its electroweak versus
QCD penguin fraction is identified. Secondly, the signatures of a series of New
Physics scenarios, characterized as model-independently as possible in terms of
their underlying dynamics, are investigated by combining the information from
all the FCNC transitions in the s ---> d sector.Comment: 54 pages, 14 eps figure
Persistent itching associated to silodosin in an elderly patient: Implications for drug-drug interactions and pharmacogenetics
Itching is a complaint affecting especially the elderly, in whom comorbidities and polypharmacy increase the risk of adverse drug reactions. We reported the case of an 83-year-old man with a generalized itching lasting more than 3 years underwent to our attention during his enrollment in a clinical study at University Hospital of Salerno, Italy where he was planned for a thromboendoarteriectomy because of left internal carotid artery stenosis. His medical history included arterial hypertension, ischemic heart disease, chronic cerebrovasculopathy, dyslipidaemia and prostatic hyperplasia. His therapy was olmesartan medoxomil 10 mg/die, nebivolol 5 mg x 1/2/die, acetylsalicylic acid 100 mg/die, omeprazole 20 mg/die, atorvastatin 20 mg/die, supplements contain ing EPA and DHA, vitamins K2, B6, B12 and folic acid (vit B9) and silodosin 8 mg/die. The patient’s demographic clinic, laboratory data and a pharmacological anamnesis were collected. Screening of two ABCB1 polymorphisms associated to a decrease of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) activity was performed by realtime PCR. An iatrogenic cause of the itching was suspected and the Naranjo algorithm was applied, revealing possible association between such an adverse reaction and all used drugs. Because the patient reported the beginning of the itching in concomitance with the aspirin assumption, this agent was discontinued but without improvement. Then, because silodosin-atorvastatin interaction may increase the silodosin plasma concentration, this drug was switched to doxazosin and the itching disappeared. This clinical case stresses the potential misleading based on the patients’ beliefs and the importance to consider all the patients’ available information to ascertain the cause of adverse drug reactions
Composite MFV and Beyond
We revisit and extend realizations of Minimal Flavor Violation (MFV) in
theories with strongly coupled electro-weak symmetry breaking. MFV requires
that some chiralities of light SM quarks are strongly composite leading,
depending on the scenario, to bounds from compositeness searches, precision
electro-weak tests or even flavor physics. Within the framework of partial
compositeness we show how to extend the MFV paradigm allowing the treat the top
quark differently. This can be realized if for example the strong sector has an
U(2) symmetry. In this case the light generations can be mostly elementary and
all the bounds are easily satisfied.Comment: 16 pages. v2) estimates improved, conclusions unchange
About one long-range contribution to K+ -> pi+ l+ l- decays
We investigate the mechanism of K+ -> pi+ l+ l- (l= e, mu) decays in which a
virtual photon is emitted either from the incoming K+ or the outgoing pi+. We
point out some inconsistencies with and between two previous calculations,
discuss the possible experimental inputs, and estimate the branching fractions.
This mechanism alone fails to explain the existing experimental data by more
than one order-of-magnitude. But it may show itself by its interference with
the leading long-range mechanism dominated by the a_1^+ and rho^0 mesons.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, epsf.sty, 2 embedded figure
Soft-photon corrections in multi-body meson decays
The effects due to soft-photon emission (and the related virtual corrections)
in multi-body decays of B, D, and K mesons are analysed. We present analytic
expressions for the universal O(alpha) correction factors which can be applied
to all multi-body decay modes where a tight soft-photon energy cut in the
decaying-particle rest-frame is applied. All-order resummations valid in the
limit of small and large velocities of the final-state particles are also
discussed. The phenomenological implications of these correction factors in the
distortion of Dalitz-plot distributions of K -> 3 pi decays are briefly
analysed.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures (v2: minor modifications - published version
Less Minimal Flavour Violation
We consider the approximate U(2)^3 flavour symmetry exhibited by the quark
sector of the Standard Model and all its possible breaking terms appearing in
the quark Yukawa couplings. Taking an Effective Field Theory point of view, we
determine the current bounds on these parameters, assumed to control the
breaking of flavour in a generic extension of the Standard Model at a reference
scale Lambda. In particular, a significant bound from epsilon'/epsilon is
derived, which is relevant to Minimal Flavour Violation as well. In the
up-quark sector, the recently observed CP violation in D -> pi+ pi-, K+ K-
decays might be accounted for in this generic framework, consistently with any
other constraint.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur
Running mass of the rho0 meson's implication for the dilepton mass spectrum and the mu+mu-/e+e- branching ratio in the K+ --> pi+l+l- decays
We make an attempt to resolve the discrepancy of the observed e+e- mass
spectrum in the K+ --> pi+e+e- decay with that predicted by meson dominance. To
this end we investigate the properties of the rho0 propagator. We use
dispersion relations to evaluate the running mass squared m_rho^2(t) of the
rho0 resonance without adjustable parameters. To improve the convergence of the
dispersion integral, the momentum dependence of strong vertices is taken from
the flux-tube-breaking model of Kokoski and Isgur. The obtained behavior of
m_rho^2(t) at small momentum squared t makes the K+ --> pi+e+e- form factor
rise faster with increasing than in the original meson-dominance
calculation and more in agreement with the published data. As a consequence,
the meson-dominance prediction of the mu+mu-/e+e- branching ratio changes
slightly, from 0.224 to 0.236. We do not see any possibility to accommodate
into the meson-dominance approach an even steeper e+e- spectrum, indicated by
the preliminary data of the E865 collaboration at BNL AGS.Comment: 13 pages, RevTeX, epsf.sty, 4 embedded figure
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