Analysis of Two-Body Decays of Charmed Baryons Using the Quark-Diagram Scheme

We give a general formulation of the quark-diagram scheme for the nonleptonic weak decays of baryons. We apply it to all the decays of the antitriplet and sextet charmed baryons and express their decay amplitudes in terms of the quark-diagram amplitudes. We have also given parametrizations for the effects of final-state interactions. For SU(3) violation effects, we only parametrize those in the horizontal $W$-loop quark diagrams whose contributions are solely due to SU(3)-violation effects. In the absence of all these effects, there are many relations among various decay modes. Some of the relations are valid even in the presence of final-state interactions when each decay amplitude in the relation contains only a single phase shift. All these relations provide useful frameworks to compare with future experiments and to find out the effects of final-state interactions and SU(3) symmetry violations.Comment: 28 pages, 20 Tables in landscape form, 4 figures. Main changes are: (i) some errors in the Tables and in the relations between the quark-diagram amplitudes of this paper and those of Ref.[10] are corrected, (ii) improvements are made in the presentation so that comparisons with previous works and what have been done to include SU(3) breaking and final-state interactions are more clearly stated; to appear in the Physical Review

Is the Lightest Kaluza-Klein Particle a Viable Dark Matter Candidate?

In models with universal extra dimensions (i.e. in which all Standard Model fields, including fermions, propagate into compact extra dimensions) momentum conservation in the extra dimensions leads to the conservation of Kaluza--Klein (KK) number at each vertex. KK number is violated by loop effects because of the orbifold imposed to reproduce the chiral Standard Model with zero modes, however, a KK parity remains at any order in perturbation theory which leads to the existence of a stable lightest KK particle (LKP). In addition, the degeneracy in the KK spectrum is lifted by radiative corrections so that all other KK particles eventually decay into the LKP. We investigate cases where the Standard Model lives in five or six dimensions with compactification radius of TeV$^{-1}$ size and the LKP is the first massive state in the KK tower of either the photon or the neutrino. We derive the relic density of the LKP under a variety of assumptions about the spectrum of first tier KK modes. We find that both the KK photon and the KK neutrino, with masses at the TeV scale, may have appropriate annihilation cross sections to account for the dark matter, $\Omega_M \sim 0.3$.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figures; v2: A couple of references added, a few minor clarifications (on KK parity and on the 6d case

The evolution of cosmic string loops in Kerr-de Sitter spacetimes

The equation of cosmic string loops in Kerr-de Sitter spacetimes is derived. Having solved the equation numerically, we find that the loops can expand and exist except for too small ones.Comment: 8 page

Study of f_0(980) and f_0(1500) from B_s \to f_0(980)\pi, f_0(1500)\pi Decays

In this paper, we analyze the scalar mesons $f_0(980)$ and $f_0(1500)$ from the decays $\bar B^0_s \to f_0(980)\pi^0, f_0(1500)\pi^0$ within Perturbative QCD approach. From the leading order calculations, we find that (a) in the allowed mixing angle ranges, the branching ratio of $\bar B^0_s\to f_0(980)\pi^0$ is about $(1.0\sim1.6)\times 10^{-7}$, which is smaller than that of $\bar B^0_s\to f_0(980)K^0$ (the difference is a few times even one order); (b) the decay $\bar B^0_s \to f_0(1500)\pi^0$ is better to distinguish between the lowest lying state or the first excited state for $f_0(1500)$, because the branching ratios for two scenarios have about one-order difference in most of the mixing angle ranges; and (c) the direct CP asymmetries of $\bar B^0_s \to f_0(1500)\pi^0$ for two scenarios also exists great difference. In scenario II, the variation range of the value ${\cal A} ^{dir}_{CP}(\bar B^0_s \to f_0(1500)\pi^0)$ according to the mixing angle is very small, except for the values corresponding to the mixing angles being near $90^\circ$ or $270^\circ$, while the variation range of ${\cal A} ^{dir}_{CP}(\bar B^0_s \to f_0(1500)\pi^0)$ in scenario I is very large. Compared with the future data for the decay $\bar B^0_s \to f_0(1500)\pi^0$, it is ease to determine the nature of the scalar meson $f_0(1500)$.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, Revte

Tumor necrosis factor alpha gene expression and the response to interferon in chronic hepatitis C

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is a cytokine with pleiotropic properties that is induced in a variety of pathological situations including viral infections. In this work, we analyzed the expression of TNF-alpha gene in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Serum TNF-alpha levels were found to be elevated in all chronic hepatitis C patients including those cases presenting sustained biochemical remission of the disease after interferon therapy. Untreated patients with chronic hepatitis C showed increased TNF-alpha messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in the liver and mononuclear cells as compared with healthy controls. After completion of treatment with interferon, patients experiencing sustained complete response showed values of TNF-alpha mRNA, both in the liver and in peripheral mononuclear cells, within the normal range, significantly lower than patients who did not respond to interferon and than those with complete response who relapsed after interferon withdrawal. Pretreatment values of TNF-alpha mRNA were lower in long-term responders to interferon than in cases who failed to respond to the treatment. Values of TNF-alpha mRNA in the liver or in mononuclear cells were higher in specimens with positive hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA than in those samples where the virus was undetectable. Neither the intensity of the liver damage nor the amount of HCV RNA in serum or in cells showed correlation with the levels of TNF-alpha transcripts in peripheral mononuclear cells but it was found that high TNF-alpha values were associated with genotype 1b. In conclusion, there is an enhanced expression of TNF-alpha in HCV infection. High levels of this cytokine may play a role in the resistance to interferon therapy

Threshold criterion for wetting at the triple point

Grand canonical simulations are used to calculate adsorption isotherms of various classical gases on alkali metal and Mg surfaces. Ab initio adsorption potentials and Lennard-Jones gas-gas interactions are used. Depending on the system, the resulting behavior can be nonwetting for all temperatures studied, complete wetting, or (in the intermediate case) exhibit a wetting transition. An unusual variety of wetting transitions at the triple point is found in the case of a specific adsorption potential of intermediate strength. The general threshold for wetting near the triple point is found to be close to that predicted with a heuristic model of Cheng et al. This same conclusion was drawn in a recent experimental and simulation study of Ar on CO_2 by Mistura et al. These results imply that a dimensionless wetting parameter w is useful for predicting whether wetting behavior is present at and above the triple temperature. The nonwetting/wetting crossover value found here is w circa 3.3.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Curvature effects on the surface thickness and tension at the free interface of 4^4He systems

The thickness $W$ and the surface energy $\sigma_A$ at the free interface of superfluid $^4$He are studied. Results of calculations carried out by using density functionals for cylindrical and spherical systems are presented in a unified way, including a comparison with the behavior of planar slabs. It is found that for large species $W$ is independent of the geometry. The obtained values of $W$ are compared with prior theoretical results and experimental data. Experimental data favor results evaluated by adopting finite range approaches. The behavior of $\sigma_A$ and $W \sigma_A$ exhibit overshoots similar to that found previously for the central density, the trend of these observables towards their asymptotic values is examined.Comment: 35 pages, TeX, 5 figures, definitive versio

Calculations on the Size Effects of Raman Intensities of Silicon Quantum Dots

Raman intensities of Si quantum dots (QDs) with up to 11,489 atoms (about 7.6 nm in diameter) for different scattering configurations are calculated. First, phonon modes in these QDs, including all vibration frequencies and vibration amplitudes, are calculated directly from the lattice dynamic matrix by using a microscopic valence force field model combined with the group theory. Then the Raman intensities of these quantum dots are calculated by using a bond-polarizability approximation. The size effects of the Raman intensity in these QDs are discussed in detail based on these calculations. The calculations are compared with the available experimental observation. We are expecting that our calculations can further stimulate more experimental measurements.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure

Evidence for two-quark content of f0(980)f_{0}(980) in exclusive b→cb\to c decays

Inspired by a large decay branching ratio (BR) of $B^{+}\to f_{0}(980)K^{+}$ measured by Belle recently, we propose that a significant evidence of the component of $n\bar{n}=(u\bar{u}+d\bar{d})/\sqrt{2}$ in $f_{0}(980)$ could be demonstrated in exclusive $b\to c$ decays by the observation of $f_{0}(980)$ in the final states $\bar{B}\to D^{0(*)} \pi^{+} \pi^{-}(KK)$ and $\bar{B}\to J/\Psi \pi^{+} \pi^{-}(KK)$. We predict the BRs of $\bar{B}\to D^{0(*)} (J/\Psi) f_{0}(980)$ to be ${\cal {O}}(10^{-4})$ (${\cal {O}}(10^{-5})$) while the unknown wave functions of $D^{(*)0}$ ($J/\Psi$) are chosen to fit the observed decays of $\bar{B}\to D^{(*)0} \pi^{0} (J/\Psi K^{0(*)})$.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, Revtex4, version to appear in PR

Observing Direct CP Violation in Untagged B-Meson Decays

Direct CP violation can exist in untagged B-meson decays to self-conjugate, three-particle final states; it would be realized as a population asymmetry in the untagged decay rate across the mirror line of the Dalitz plot of the three-body decay. We explore the numerical size of this direct CP-violating effect in a variety of B-meson decays to three pseudoscalar mesons; we show that the resulting asymmetry is comparable to the partial rate asymmetry in the analogous tagged decays, making the search for direct CP violation in the untagged decay rate, for which greater statistics accrue, advantageous.Comment: 31 pages, REVTeX4, 1 eps figure, references added, typos corrected, version to appear in PR