Diffusion on a hypercubic lattice with pinning potential: exact results for the error-catastrophe problem in biological evolution

In the theoretical biology framework one fundamental problem is the so-called error catastrophe in Darwinian evolution models. We reexamine Eigen's fundamental equations by mapping them into a polymer depinning transition problem in a ``genotype'' space represented by a unitary hypercubic lattice. The exact solution of the model shows that error catastrophe arises as a direct consequence of the equations involved and confirms some previous qualitative results. The physically relevant consequence is that such equations are not adequate to properly describe evolution of complex life on the Earth.Comment: 10 pages in LaTeX. Figures are available from the authors. [email protected] (e-mail address

Global Fits of the CKM Matrix

We report upon the present status of global fits to Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures invited talk presented at EPS conference, Aachen July 17-2

Branching Fraction and CP Asymmetry Measurements in Inclusive B→Xsℓ+ℓ− and B→Xsγ Decays from BaBar

AbstractWe present an update on total and partial branching fractions and on CP asymmetries in the semi-inclusive decay B→Xsℓ+ℓ−. Further, we summarize our results on branching fractions and CP asymmetries for semi-inclusive and fully-inclusive B→Xsγ decays. We present the first result on the CP asymmetry difference of charged and neutral B→Xsγ decays yielding the first constraint on the ratio of Wilson coefficients Im(C8eff/C7eff)