Theory of rare kaon decays

We review some recent theoretical results on rare kaon decays. Particular attention is devoted to find Standard Model tests. This is theoretically easy in $K\to \pi \nu \bar{\nu}$, while a careful study of the long distance contributions is needed for $K_{L}\to \pi ^{0}e$, $K_{L}\to \mu \bar{\mu}$ and $K\to \pi \pi \gamma$Comment: 11 pages Latex file, no figures;Invited plenary talk at the 3rd International Conference on B Physics and CP Violation (BCONF99), Taipei, Taiwan, 3-7 Dec 199

Recent developments in rare kaon decays

We discuss issues in rare and radiative kaon decays. The interest is to extract useful short-distance information and uncover underlying dynamics. We emphasize channels where either we can understand non-perturbative aspects of QCD or there is a chance to test the Standard Model.Comment: Invited minireview for Modern Physics Letters A (MPLA), 15 pages, 9 figures, usepackages epsf,colo

Standard Model prediction and new physics tests for D0 -> h+h-l+l- (h=\pi,K; l=e,\mu)

Motivated by the recent evidence for direct CP-violation in D0 -> h+h- decays, we provide an exhaustive study of both Cabibbo-favored and Cabibbo-suppressed (singly and doubly) D0 -> h1+h2-l+l- decays. In particular, we study the Dalitz plot for the long-distance contributions in the (m_{ll}^2,m_{hh}^2) parameter space. We find that near-resonant effects, i.e., D0 -> V(h1+h2-)l+l- with V=\rho,K*,\phi, are sizeable and even dominant (over Bremsstrahlung) for the \mu+\mu- decay modes, bringing the branching ratios close to the LHCb reach. We also provide a detailed study of the angular asymmetries for such decays and identify signatures for new physics detection. In particular, new physics signals can be neatly isolated in asymmetries involving the semileptonic operator Q_{10}, where for typical new physics scenarios the effects can be as sizeable as O(1%) for the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed modes.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures. v2 (journal version) contains the new subsection III.B, where the potential size of new physics effects is discussed. Tables and figures slightly changed to match the journal version. Typos corrected and references added. Conclusions unchange

Antisymmetric tensors in holographic approaches to QCD

We study real (massive) antisymmetric tensors of rank two in holographic models of QCD based on the gauge/string duality. Our aim is to understand in detail how the AdS/CFT correspondence describes correlators with tensor currents in QCD. To this end we study a set of bootstrapped correlators with spin-1 vector and tensor currents, imposing matching to QCD at the partonic level. We show that a consistent description of this set of correlators yields a very predictive picture. For instance, it imposes strong constraints on infrared boundary conditions and precludes the introduction of dilatonic backgrounds as a mechanism to achieve linear confinement. Additionally, correlators with tensor currents turn out to be especially sensitive to chiral symmetry breaking, thus offering an ideal testing ground for genuine QCD effects. Several phenomenological consequences are explored, such as the nontrivial interplay between $1^{+-}$ states and conventional $1^{--}$ vector mesons.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures. Minor changes to match the journal versio