Beyond the soft photon approximation in radiative production and decay of charged vector mesons

We study the effects of model-dependent contributions and the electric quadrupole moment of vector mesons in the decays $V^- \to P^-P^0\gamma$ and $\tau^- \to \nu V^-\gamma$. Their interference with the amplitude originating from the radiation due to electric charges vanishes for photons emitted collinearly to the charged particle in the final state. This brings further support to our claim in previous works, that measurements of the photon energy spectrum for nearly collinear photons in those decays are suitable for a first measurement of the magnetic dipole moment of charged vector mesons.Comment: 13 pages, 2 eps figures, Latex. Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics(2001

Structure-dependent radiative corrections to phi -> K^+K^-/K_LK_S decays

Current predictions for the ratio of phi -> K^+K^-/K_LK_S decay rates exceed the corresponding experimental value in about five standard deviations. By far, the dominant sources of isospin breaking to this ratio are the phase-space (52%) and the electromagnetic radiative (4.3%, computed within scalar QED) corrections. Here we estimate the effects of the electromagnetic structure of kaons and other model-dependent contributions into the radiative corrections.Comment: 8 pages, Latex, 2 .eps figure

Long-distance radiative corrections to the di-pion tau lepton decay

We evaluate the model-dependent piece of O(alpha) long-distance radiative corrections to tau^- \to \pi^- \pi^0\nu_{\tau} decays by using a meson dominance model. We find that these corrections to the di-pion invariant mass spectrum are smaller than in previous calculations based on chiral perturbation theory. The corresponding correction to the photon inclusive rate is tiny (-0.15%) but it can be of relevance when new measurements reach better precision.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. An estimate of the shift produced in the evaluation of the h.v.p. contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment is added. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Interaction driven phases in the honeycomb lattice from exact diagonalization

We investigate the fate of interaction driven phases in the half-filled honeycomb lattice for finite systems via exact diagonalization with nearest and next nearest neighbour interactions. We find evidence for a charge density wave phase, a Kekul\'e bond order and a sublattice charge modulated phase in agreement with previously reported mean-field phase diagrams. No clear sign of an interaction driven Chern insulator phase (Haldane phase) is found despite being predicted by the same mean-field analysis. We characterize these phases by their ground state degeneracy and by calculating charge order and bond order correlation functions.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, updated reference

Optical conductivity near finite-wavelength quantum criticality

We study the optical conductivity sigma(Omega) of an electron system near a quantum-critical point with finite-wavelength ordering. sigma(Omega) vanishes in clean Galilean-invariant systems, unless electrons are coupled to dynamical collective modes, which dissipate the current. This coupling introduces a nonuniversal energy scale. Depending on the parameters of each specific system, a variety of responses arise near criticality: scaling peaks at a temperature- and doping-dependent frequency, peaks at a fixed frequency, or no peaks to be associated with criticality. Therefore the lack of scaling in the far-infrared conductivity in cuprates does not necessarily call for new concepts of quantum criticality.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; version as publishe

Role of antiviral therapy in the natural history of hepatitis B virus-related chronic liver disease

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a dynamic state of interactions among HBV, hepatocytes, and the host immune system. Natural history studies of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection have shown an association between active viral replication and adverse clinical outcomes such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The goal of therapy for CHB is to improve quality of life and survival by preventing progression of the disease to cirrhosis, decompensation, end-stage liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and death. This goal can be achieved if HBV replication is suppressed in a sustained manner. The accompanying reduction in histological activity of CHB lessens the risk of cirrhosis and of HCC, particularly in non-cirrhotic patients. However, CHB infection cannot be completely eradicated, due to the persistence of covalently closed circular DNA in the nucleus of infected hepatocytes, which may explain HBV reactivation. Moreover, the integration of the HBV genome into the host genome may favour oncogenesis, development of HCC and may also contribute to HBV reactivation

Couplings between Chern-Simons gravities and 2p-branes

The interaction between Chern-Simons (CS) theories and localized external sources (2p-branes) is analyzed. This interaction generalizes the minimal coupling between a point charge (0-brane) and a gauge connection. The external currents that define the 2p-branes are covariantly constant (D-2p-1)-forms coupled to (2p-1) CS forms. The general expression for the sources --charged with respect to the corresponding gauge algebra-- is presented, focusing on two special cases: 0-branes and (D-3)-branes. In any dimension, 0-branes are constructed as topological defects produced by a surface deficit of (D-2)-sphere in AdS space, and they are not constant curvature spaces for D>3. They correspond to dimensionally continued black holes with negative mass. On the other hand, in the case of CS (super) gravities, the (D-3)-branes are naked conical singularities (topological defects) obtained by identification of points with a Killing vector. In 2+1 dimensions, extremal spinning branes of this type are BPS states. Stable (D-3)-branes are shown to exist also in higher dimensions, as well. Classical field equations are also discussed and in the presence of sources there is a large number of inequivalent and disconnected sectors in solution space.Comment: 29 pages, no figures; version accepted in PRD; extended introduction and several references added; some sections have been reorganized and several minor corrections mad