Improvements to the Method of Dispersion Relations for B Nonleptonic Decays

We bring some clarifications and improvements to the method of dispersion relations in the external masses variables, that we proposed recently for investigating the final state interactions in the B nonleptonic decays. We first present arguments for the existence of an additional term in the dispersion representation, which arises from an equal-time commutator in the LSZ formalism and can be approximated by the conventional factorized amplitude. The reality properties of the spectral function and the Goldberger-Treiman procedure to perform the hadronic unitarity sum are analyzed in more detail. We also improve the treatment of the strong interaction part by including the contributions of both t and u-channel trajectories in the Regge amplitudes. Applications to the $B^0\to \pi^+\pi^-$ and $B^+\to \pi^0 K^+$ decays are presented.Comment: 16 pages, 4 new figures. modifications of the dispersion representatio

Long-range two-body final-state interactions and direct CP asymmetry in {B}^{+}\to{\pi}^{+} {K}^{0} decay

We present a calculation of the direct CP asymmetry, $A_{CP}^{dir}$, for the process $B^+ \to \pi^+ K^0$ including the effects of long-range inelastic final-state interactions (FSI). We admit three channels in our calculation: $B^+ \to (\pi^+ K^0), (\eta K^+)$, and $(D_s^+ \bar{D}^0)$. The strong scattering is described in terms of Pomeron and Regge exchanges. We find that the direct CP asymmetry is enhanced by a factor of $\sim 3$ as a result of FSI, but remains well short of the claims of (10 - 20)% in recent literature. A critical assessment of papers claiming large CP asymmetries is also presented.Comment: 21 pages, latex, no figures. Added the charge-exchange channel {B}^{+}\to {\pi}^{0} {K}^{+}. Expanded the discussion section. To be published in Phys. Rev.

Combining CP Asymmetries in B→KπB \to K \pi Decays

We prove an approximate relation, to leading order in dominant terms, between CP-violating rate differences in $B^0/\bar{B}^0 \to K^{\pm}\pi^{\mp}$ and $B^{\pm} \to K^{\pm}\pi^0$. We show how data from these two processes may be combined in order to enhance the significance of a nonzero result.Comment: 9 pages, latex, no figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters, revise

Lepton flavor violation two-body decays of quarkoniums

In this paper we firstly study various model-independent bounds on lepton flavor violation (LFV) in processes of $J/\Psi$, $\Psi'$ and $\Upsilon$ two-body decays, then calculate their branch ratios % By using the constraints from other ways, we obtain %the indirect bounds of ${\rm Br} (J/\Psi,\Psi',\Upsilon \to ll')$ in models of the leptoquark, $R$ violating MSSM and topcolor assisted technicolor(TC2) models.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Rescattering Information from B→KKˉB \to K \bar K Decays

Rescattering effects can modify the dependence on the weak phase $\gamma = -{\rm Arg}(V^*_{ub}V_{ud}/V^*_{cb} V_{cd})$ of the ratio of rates for $B^{\pm} \to K \pi^\pm$ and $B \to K^\pm \pi^\mp$. A test for these effects based on the processes $B^\pm \to K^\pm K$ has been suggested. It is pointed out that the rates for the processes $B \to K^+ K^-$, which are expected to be {\it dominated} by rescattering and for which considerably better experimental bounds exist, are likely to provide a more stringent constraint on these effects.Comment: 22 pages, latex, 7 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. D. Minor corrections and addition

Taming the Penguin in the B0(t) -> Pi+Pi- CP-asymmetry: Observables and Minimal Theoretical Input

Penguin contributions, being not negligible in general, can hide the information on the CKM angle alpha coming from the measurement of the time-dependent B0(t) -> pi+pi- CP-asymmetry. Nevertheless, we show that this information can be summarized in a set of simple equations, expressing alpha as a multi-valued function of a single theoretically unknown parameter, which conveniently can be chosen as a well-defined ratio of penguin to tree amplitudes. Using these exact analytic expressions, free of any assumption besides the Standard Model, and some reasonable hypotheses to constrain the modulus of the penguin amplitude, we derive several new upper bounds on the penguin-induced shift |2alpha-2alpha_eff|, generalizing the recent result of Grossman and Quinn. These bounds depend on the averaged branching ratios of some decays (pi0pi0, K0K0bar, K+-pi-+) particularly sensitive to the penguin. On the other hand, with further and less conservative approximations, we show that the knowledge of the B+- -> Kpi+- branching ratio alone gives sufficient information to extract the free parameter without the need of other measurements, and without knowing |V_td| or |V_ub|. More generally, knowing the modulus of the penguin amplitude with an accuracy of ~30% might result in an extraction of alpha competitive with the experimentally more difficult isospin analysis. We also show that our framework allows to recover most of the previous approaches in a transparent and simple way, and in some cases to improve them. In addition we discuss in detail the problem of the various kinds of discrete ambiguities.Comment: LaTeX2e, 44 pages, 9 figures (from 18 postscript files) included with epsf. Minor changes, references updated. New CLEO results from ICHEP'98 are taken into account. To appear in Phys. Rev.

On Large Final-State Phases in Heavy Meson Decays

An attempt is made to identify circumstances under which the weak decays of $D$ and $B$ mesons may display large differences between eigenphases of strong final-state interactions. There are several cases in which rescattering from other final states appears to enhance decay rates with respect to estimates based on the factorization hypothesis.Comment: 24 pages, latex, 4 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Final-State Phases in Charmed Meson Two-Body Nonleptonic Decays

Observed decay rates indicate large phase differences among the amplitudes for the charge states in $D \to \bar K \pi$ and $D \to \bar K^* \pi$ but relatively real amplitudes in the charge states for $D \to \bar K \rho$. This feature is traced using an SU(3) flavor analysis to a sign flip in the contribution of one of the amplitudes contributing to the latter processes in comparison with its contribution to the other two sets. This amplitude may be regarded as an effect of rescattering and is found to be of magnitude comparable to others contributing to charmed particle two-body nonleptonic decays.Comment: 19 pages, latex, 4 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

CNTN6 mutations are risk factors for abnormal auditory sensory perception in autism spectrum disorders

Contactin genes CNTN5 and CNTN6 code for neuronal cell adhesion molecules that promote neurite outgrowth in sensory-motor neuronal pathways. Mutations of CNTN5 and CNTN6 have previously been reported in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but very little is known on their prevalence and clinical impact. In this study, we identified CNTN5 and CNTN6 deleterious variants in individuals with ASD. Among the carriers, a girl with ASD and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder was carrying five copies of CNTN5. For CNTN6, both deletions (6/1534 ASD vs 1/8936 controls; P=0.00006) and private coding sequence variants (18/501 ASD vs 535/33480 controls; P=0.0005) were enriched in individuals with ASD. Among the rare CNTN6 variants, two deletions were transmitted by fathers diagnosed with ASD, one stop mutation CNTN6W923X was transmitted by a mother to her two sons with ASD and one variant CNTN6P770L was found de novo in a boy with ASD. Clinical investigations of the patients carrying CNTN5 or CNTN6 variants showed that they were hypersensitive to sounds (a condition called hyperacusis) and displayed changes in wave latency within the auditory pathway. These results reinforce the hypothesis of abnormal neuronal connectivity in the pathophysiology of ASD and shed new light on the genes that increase risk for abnormal sensory perception in ASD

Pathways to cellular supremacy in biocomputing

Synthetic biology uses living cells as the substrate for performing human-defined computations. Many current implementations of cellular computing are based on the “genetic circuit” metaphor, an approximation of the operation of silicon-based computers. Although this conceptual mapping has been relatively successful, we argue that it fundamentally limits the types of computation that may be engineered inside the cell, and fails to exploit the rich and diverse functionality available in natural living systems. We propose the notion of “cellular supremacy” to focus attention on domains in which biocomputing might offer superior performance over traditional computers. We consider potential pathways toward cellular supremacy, and suggest application areas in which it may be found.A.G.-M. was supported by the SynBio3D project of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/R019002/1) and the European CSA on biological standardization BIOROBOOST (EU grant number 820699). T.E.G. was supported by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship (grant UF160357) and BrisSynBio, a BBSRC/ EPSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre (grant BB/L01386X/1). P.Z. was supported by the EPSRC Portabolomics project (grant EP/N031962/1). P.C. was supported by SynBioChem, a BBSRC/EPSRC Centre for Synthetic Biology of Fine and Specialty Chemicals (grant BB/M017702/1) and the ShikiFactory100 project of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 814408