Proton Decay: Improving the sensitivity through nuclear dynamics?

The kinematics of the decay of a bound proton is governed by the proton spectral function. We evaluate this quantity in 16O using the information from nuclear physics experiments. It also includes a correlated part. The reliability of this evaluation is sufficient to open the possibility of correlated cuts in the missing mass and momentum variables in order to identify the decay events from the bound protons with a possible increase of the signal to noise ratio.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. CERN preprint: CERN-PH-TH/2010-036. To appear in Phys Rev

Chiral Dynamics of Deeply Bound Pionic Atoms

We present and discuss a systematic calculation, based on two-loop chiral perturbation theory, of the pion-nuclear s-wave optical potential. A proper treatment of the explicit energy dependence of the off-shell pion self-energy together with (electromagnetic) gauge invariance of the Klein-Gordon equation turns out to be crucial. Accurate data for the binding energies and widths of the 1s and 2p levels in pionic ^{205}Pb and ^{207}Pb are well reproduced, and the notorious "missing repulsion" in the pion-nuclear s-wave optical potential is accounted for. The connection with the in-medium change of the pion decay constant is clarified.Comment: preprint ECT*-02-16, 4 pages, 3 figure

Hyperon production in near threshold nucleon-nucleon collisions

We study the mechanism of the associated Lambda-kaon and Sigma-kaon production in nucleon-nucleon collisions over an extended range of near threshold beam energies within an effective Lagrangian model, to understand of the new data on pp --> p Lambda K+ and pp --> p Sigma0 K+ reactions published recently by the COSY-11 collaboration. In this theory, the hyperon production proceeds via the excitation of N*(1650), N*(1710), and N*(1720) baryonic resonances. Interplay of the relative contributions of various resonances to the cross sections, is discussed as a function of the beam energy over a larger near threshold energy domain. Predictions of our model are given for the total cross sections of pp --> p Sigma+K0, pp --> n Sigma+K+, and pn --> n Lambda K+ reactions.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, one new table added and dicussions are updated, version accepted for publication by Physical Review

Renormalization of the Deuteron with One Pion Exchange

We analyze the deuteron bound state through the One Pion Exchange Potential. We pay attention to the short distance peculiar singularity structure of the bound state wave functions in coordinate space and the elimination of short distance ambiguities by selecting the regular solution at the origin. We determine the so far elusive amplitude of the converging exponential solutions at the origin. All bound state deuteron properties can then be uniquely deduced from the deuteron binding energy, the pion-nucleon coupling constant and pion mass. This generates correlations among deuteron properties. Scattering phase shifts and low energy parameters in the 3S1-3D1 channel are constructed by requiring orthogonality of the positive energy states to the deuteron bound state, yielding an energy independent combination of boundary conditions. We also analyze from the viewpoint of short distance boundary conditions the weak binding regime on the light of long distance perturbation theory and discuss the approach to the chiral limit.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figure

Two pion mediated scalar isoscalar NN interaction in the nuclear medium

We study the modification of the nucleon nucleon interaction in a nuclear medium in the scalar isoscalar channel, mediated by the exchange of two correlated ($\sigma$ channel) or uncorrelated pions. For this purpose we use a standard approach for the renormalization of pions in nuclei. The corrections obtained for the $NN$ interaction in the medium in this channel are of the order of 20% of the free one in average, and the consideration of short range correlations plays an important role in providing these moderate changes. Yet, the corrections are sizable enough to suggest further studies of the stability and properties of nuclear matter.Comment: 27 page

Charged Current Neutrino Nucleus Interactions at Intermediate Energies

We have developed a model to describe the interactions of neutrinos with nucleons and nuclei, focusing on the region of the quasielastic and Delta(1232) peaks. We describe neutrino nucleon collisions with a fully relativistic formalism which incorporates state-of-the-art parametrizations of the form factors for both the nucleon and the N-Delta transition. The model has then been extended to finite nuclei, taking into account nuclear effects such as Fermi motion, Pauli blocking (both within the local density approximation), nuclear binding and final state interactions. The in-medium modification of the Delta resonance due to Pauli blocking and collisional broadening have also been included. Final state interactions are implemented by means of the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) coupled-channel transport model. Results for charged current inclusive cross sections and exclusive channels as pion production and nucleon knockout are presented and discussed.Comment: 26 pages, 24 figures; v2: 2 figures and discussion added, version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

N-Delta(1232) axial form factors from weak pion production

The N-Delta axial form factors are determined from neutrino induced pion production ANL & BNL data by using a state of the art theoretical model, which accounts both for background mechanisms and deuteron effects. We find violations of the off diagonal Goldberger-Treiman relation at the level of 2 sigma which might have an impact in background calculations for T2K and MiniBooNE low energy neutrino oscillation precision experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Feynman diagrams with the effective action

A derivation is given of the Feynman rules to be used in the perturbative computation of the Green's functions of a generic quantum many-body theory when the action which is being perturbed is not necessarily quadratic. Some applications are discussed.Comment: Extended revised version. RevTex, 19 pages, 10 figure

Neutrino induced threshold production of two pions and N^*(1440) electroweak form factors

We study the threshold production of two pions induced by neutrinos in nucleon targets. The contribution of nucleon, pion and contact terms are calculated using a chiral Lagrangian. The contribution of the Roper resonance, neglected in earlier studies, has also been taken into account. The numerical results for the cross sections are presented and compared with the available experimental data. It has been found that in the two pion channels with $\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\pi^0\pi^0$ in the final state, the contribution of the $N^*(1440)$ is quite important and could be used to determine the $N^*(1440)$ electroweak transition form factors if experimental data with better statistics become available in the future.Comment: This version corrects a mistake on the helicity amplitudes sign. Additional comments on resonance-background relative sign are added. Other minor corrections. Matches published version. 17 pages, 7 figure

Chiral symmetry and the axial nucleon to Delta(1232) transition form factors

We study the momentum and the quark mass dependence of the axial nucleon to Delta(1232) transition form factors in the framework of non-relativistic chiral effective field theory to leading-one-loop order. The outcome of our analysis provides a theoretical guidance for chiral extrapolations of lattice QCD results with dynamical fermions.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure