Note on Anomalous Higgs-Boson Couplings in Effective Field Theory

We propose a parametrization of anomalous Higgs-boson couplings that is both systematic and practical. It is based on the electroweak chiral Lagrangian, including a light Higgs boson, as the effective field theory (EFT) at the electroweak scale $v$. This is the appropriate framework for the case of sizeable deviations in the Higgs couplings of order $10\%$ from the Standard Model, considered to be parametrically larger than new-physics effects in the sector of electroweak gauge interactions. The role of power counting in identifying the relevant parameters is emphasized. The three relevant scales, $v$, the scale of new Higgs dynamics $f$, and the cut-off $\Lambda=4\pi f$, admit expansions in $\xi=v^2/f^2$ and $f^2/\Lambda^2$. The former corresponds to an organization of operators by their canonical dimension, the latter by their loop order or chiral dimension. In full generality the EFT is thus organized as a double expansion. However, as long as $\xi\gg 1/16\pi^2$ the EFT systematics is closer to the chiral counting. The leading effects in the consistent approximation provided by the EFT, relevant for the presently most important processes of Higgs production and decay, are given by a few (typically six) couplings. These parameters allow us to describe the properties of the Higgs boson in a general and systematic way, and with a precision adequate for the measurements to be performed at the LHC. The framework can be systematically extended to include loop corrections and higher-order terms in the EFT.Comment: 7 pages, no figures; typos corrected; references adde

Complete One-Loop Renormalization of the Higgs-Electroweak Chiral Lagrangian

Employing background-field method and super-heat-kernel expansion, we compute the complete one-loop renormalization of the electroweak chiral Lagrangian with a light Higgs boson. Earlier results from purely scalar fluctuations are confirmed as a special case. We also recover the one-loop renormalization of the conventional Standard Model in the appropriate limit.Comment: 15 pages, no figures; v2: reference and comments added, typos fixed, matches published versio

A study on males' experiences with intimate partner violence

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences and characteristics of men as\ud victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). This secondary analysis was conducted on\ud preexisting quantitative data collected by Pennell and Burke (2002). Using the\ud descriptive design, this quantitative study focused on data collected by the San Diego\ud Association of Governments (SANDAG) and supported by the National Institute of\ud Justice (NIJ). There were a total of 385 victims of IVP in the sample, of which 73\ud were male victims. The main instrument used to gather data for the study was from\ud computerized databases, telephone interviews, and self-enumerated questionnaires,\ud including several Likert-type scales items. A major finding was that white, middle\ud aged (n = 34.82) males had the highest percent of being a victim of IPV by their\ud spouses. Over a quarter of the male victims were abused by a significant other. Most\ud suspects used physical abuse against the male victims by using their hands to hit,\ud push or shove the men. Male victims of IPV were reluctant to seek medical attention,\ud although nearly a third of the men sustained injuries from the abuse. Another major\ud finding was that male victims of IPV still do not have the resources readily available\ud to them such as counseling in comparison to female victims of IPV. Most male\ud victims of IPV had a history of IPV. Finally, male victims reported that their children\ud were present over half of the time when the abuse occurred. There is a real need for\ud more awareness about male victims of IPV. Professionals who engage with male\ud victims of IPV firsthand need to be educated about the barriers that men endure and realize that women can be the perpetrator. Further research needs to be conducted to\ud gain a better understanding of male victims??? experiences with intimate partner\ud violence

alpha_s from tau decays revisited

Being a determination at low energies, the analysis of hadronic tau decay data provides a rather precise determination of the strong coupling alpha_s after evolving the result to M_Z. At such a level of precision, even small non-perturbative effects become relevant for the central value and error. While those effects had been taken into account in the framework of the operator product expansion, contributions going beyond it, so-called duality violations, have previously been neglected. The following investigation fills this gap through a finite-energy sum rule analysis of tau decay spectra from the OPAL experiment, including duality violations and performing a consistent fit of all appearing QCD parameters. The resulting values for alpha_s(M_tau) are 0.307(19) in fixed-order perturbation theory and 0.322(26) in contour-improved perturbation theory, which translates to the n_f=5 values 0.1169(25) and 0.1187(32) at M_Z, respectively.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Prepared for the Proceedings of the International Workshop on e+e- collisions from Phi to Psi (PHIPSI11), Sep. 19-22, 2011, BINP, Novosibirsk, Russi

Duality Violation and the K --> pi pi Electroweak Penguin Operator Matrix Elements from Hadronic Tau Decays

We discuss a preliminary study of the impact of duality violations on extractions from tau decay data of the D=6 VEVs which determine chiral limit Standard Model K-->pi pi matrix elements of the electroweak penguin operators.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, prepared for the Proceedings of the 11th Particle and Nuclear Intersections Conference (PANIC 2011), Boston, USA, July 24-29, 201