B decays to excited charm mesons

We review several aspects of the phenomenology of P-wave $\bar q Q$ mesons: mass splittings, effective strong couplings and leptonic constants. We also describe a QCD sum rule determination to order $\alpha_s$ of the form factor $\tau_{1/2}(y)$ governing the semileptonic $B$ decays to the charm doublet with $J^P=(0^+_{1/2},1^+_{1/2})$.Comment: LaTex, 3 pages, 1 figure. Talk given at 3rd International Conference on Hyperons, Charm and Beauty Hadrons, Genoa, Italy, 30 Jun - 3 Jul 199

Configurational Entropy can disentangle conventional hadrons from exotica

We evaluate the Configurational Entropy (CE) for scalar mesons and for $J^P=\frac{1}{2}^+$ baryons in a holographic approach, varying the dimension of boundary theory operators and using the soft-wall dual model of QCD. We find that hybrid and multiquark mesons are characterized by an increasingly large CE. A similar behavior is observed for $J^P=\frac{1}{2}^+$ baryons, where the CE of pentaquarks is larger than for three-quark baryons, for same radial number. Configurational Entropy seems relevant in disentangling conventional hadrons from exotica.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

B→Kη(′)γB\to K \eta^{(\prime)} \gamma decays in the standard model and in scenarios with universal extra dimensions

We study the radiative $B \to K \eta^{(\prime)} \gamma$ decays, which are important to investigate CP violation, and are also relevant to assess the role of the exclusive modes induced by the $b \to s \gamma$ transition to saturate the inclusive $B \to X_s \gamma$ decay rate. Moreover, these channels do not display the same hierarchy as $B \to K \eta^{(\prime)}$ modes, for which the decay into $\eta^\prime$ is enhanced with respect to one into $\eta$. The three-body radiative decays reverse the role: we find that this experimentally observed behavior (although affected by a large uncertainty in the case of the $\eta^\prime$) is reproduced in the theoretical analysis. We compute a $B^* \to K$ form factor, needed for this study, using light cone QCD sum rules, and discuss a relation expected to hold in the large energy limit for the light meson. Finally, we examine $B\to K \eta \gamma$ in two extensions of the standard model with universal extra dimensions, to investigate the sensitivity of this rare mode to such a kind of new physics effects.Comment: RevTeX, 17 pages, 7 figures. High resolution figures available upon request. Matches the published versio

QCD Interactions of Heavy Mesons with Pions by Light-Cone Sum Rules

Light-cone QCD sum rules are employed to compute the strong coupling constants: g_{B^* B^* pi}, g_{B_1 B_0 pi} and g_{B_1 B^* pi}, where (B,B^*) and (B_0,B_1) are negative and positive parity (0^-,1^-) and (0^+,1^+) \bar qQ doublets. The couplings are calculated both for finite values of the heavy quark mass and in the infinite heavy quark mass limit, deriving sum rules for m_Q \to \infty.Comment: Latex, 23 pages, 6 figures. Revised version to appear in Z. Phys.

On three-body B0→D∗−D(∗)0K+B^0 \to D^{*-} D^{(*)0} K^+ decays and couplings of heavy mesons to light pseudoscalar mesons

We analyze the decay modes $B^0 \to D^{*-} D^0 K^+$ and $B^0 \to D^{*-} D^{*0} K^+$ and, using the available experimental data, we find bounds for the constants g and h describing the strong coupling of heavy mesons to light pseudoscalar mesons. Both the decay channels are dominated by broad L=1 charm resonances; the dominance is effective also in $B^0 \to D^{-} D^0 K^+$ and $B^0 \to D^{-} D^{*0} K^+$.Comment: LaTex, 16 pages, 5 figure

Radiative transitions of DsJ∗(2317)D^*_{sJ}(2317) and DsJ(2460)D_{sJ}(2460)

We study radiative decays of $D^*_{sJ}(2317)$ and $D_{sJ}(2460)$ using light-cone QCD sum rules. In particular, we consider the decay modes $D^*_{sJ}(2317)\to D_s^* \gamma$ and $D_{sJ}(2460)\to D_s^{(*)} \gamma, D^*_{sJ}(2317) \gamma$ and evaluate the hadronic parameters in the transition amplitudes analyzing correlation functions of scalar, pseudoscalar, vector and axial-vector quark currents. In the case of $D^*_{sJ}(2317)\to D_s^* \gamma$ we also consider determinations based on two different correlation functions in HQET. The decay widths turn out to be different than previous estimates obtained by other methods; the results favour the interpretation of $D^*_{sJ}(2317)$ and $D_{sJ}(2460)$ as ordinary $\bar c s$ mesons.Comment: RevTex, 23 pages, 9 eps figure

The Riddle of Polarization in B→VVB \to VV Transitions

Measurements of polarization fractions in $B \to VV$ transitions, with $V$ a light vector meson, show that the longitudinal amplitude dominates in $B^0 \to \rho^+ \rho^-$, $B^+ \to \rho^+ \rho^0$, and $B^+ \to \rho^0 K^{*+}$ decays and not in the penguin induced decays $B^0 \to \phi K^{*0}$, $B^+ \to \phi K^{*+}$. We study the effect of rescattering mediated by charmed resonances, finding that in $B \to \phi K^*$ it can be responsible of the suppression of the longitudinal amplitude. For the decay $B \to \rho K^*$ we find that the longitudinal fraction cannot be too large without invoking new effects.Comment: LaTex, 14 pages, 3 figure

Holographic Oddballs

The spectrum of the glueball with $J^{PC}=0^{--}$ is computed using different bottom-up holographic models of QCD. The results indicate a lowest-lying state lighter than in the determination by other methods, with mass $m \simeq 2.8$ GeV. The in-medium properties of this gluonium are investigated, and stability against thermal and density effects is compared to other hadronic systems. Production and decay modes are identified, useful for searching the $J^{PC}=0^{--}$ glueball.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, 3 table

Identifying DsJ(2700)D_{sJ}(2700) through its decay modes

We study how to assign the recently observed $D_{sJ}(2700)$ meson to an appropriate level of the $c \bar s$ spectrum by the analysis of its decay modes in final states comprising a light pseudoscalar meson. We use an effective lagrangian approach with heavy quark and chiral symmetries, obtaining that the measurement of the $D^* K$ decay width would allow to distinguish between two possible assignments.Comment: RevTex, 6 pages - references adde