Discovery of Blue Hook Stars in the Massive Globular Cluster M54

We present BV photometry centered on the globular cluster M54 (NGC 6715). The color-magnitude diagram clearly shows a blue horizontal branch extending anomalously beyond the zero age horizontal branch theoretical models. These kinds of horizontal branch stars (also called ``blue hook'' stars), which go beyond the lower limit of the envelope mass of canonical horizontal branch hot stars, have so far been known to exist in only a few globular clusters: NGC 2808, Omega Centauri (NGC 5139), NGC 6273, and NGC 6388. Those clusters, like M54, are among the most luminous in our Galaxy, indicating a possible correlation between the existence of these types of horizontal branch stars and the total mass of the cluster. A gap in the observed horizontal branch of M54 around T(eff)= 27000 K could be interpreted within the late helium flash theoretical scenario, a possible explanation for the origin of those stars.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Structure of Lambda(1405) and chiral dynamics

We report on a recent theoretical work on the structure of the Lambda(1405) resonance within a chiral unitary approach, in which the resonance is dynamically generated in meson-baryon scattering. Studying the analytic structure of the scattering amplitude, we have found that there are two poles lying around energies of Lambda(1405) with different widths and couplings to the meson-baryon states. We discuss reactions to conform the double pole structure in experiment and elastic K^- p scattering at low energies.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX, 2 eps figures. Talk given at 10th International Conference on the Structure of Baryons (Baryon 2004) at Palaiseau (France), 25-29 October 200

In-medium modification of the isovector pion-nucleon amplitude

We study the in-medium modification of the isovector pi N amplitude using a non-linear representation of the sigma model but keeping the scalar degree of freedom. We check that our result does not depend on the representation. We discuss the connection with other approaches based on chiral perturbation theory.Comment: 7 page

Testing the nature of the Λ(1520)\Lambda(1520) resonance in proton-induced production

The $\Lambda(1520)$ resonance has been recently studied in a unitarized coupled channel formalism with $\pi\Sigma(1385)$, $K\Xi(1530)$, $\bar{K}N$ and $\pi\Sigma$ as constituents blocks. We provide a theoretical study of the predictions of this model in physical observables of the $pp\to pK^+K^-p$ and $pp\to pK^+\pi^0\pi^0\Lambda$ reactions. In particular, we show that the ratio between the $\pi^0\pi^0\Lambda$ and $K^-p$ mass distributions can provide valuable information on the ratio of the couplings of the $\Lambda(1520)$ resonance to $\pi\Sigma(1385)$ and $\bar{K}N$ that the theory predicts. Calculations are done for energies which are accessible in an experimental facility like COSY at J\"ulich or the developing CSR facility at Lanzhou.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Eur.Phys.J.

Self-consistent anisotropic oscillator with cranked angular and vortex velocities

The Kelvin circulation is the kinematical Hermitian observable that measures the true character of nuclear rotation. For the anisotropic oscillator, mean field solutions with fixed angular momentum and Kelvin circulation are derived in analytic form. The cranking Lagrange multipliers corresponding to the two constraints are the angular and vortex velocities. Self-consistent solutions are reported with a constraint to constant volume.Comment: 12 pages, LaTex/RevTex, Phys. Rev. C4

Dynamical Generation of Hyperon Resonances

In this talk we report on how, using a chiral unitary approach for the meson--baryon interactions, two octets of $J^{\pi}=1/2^-$ baryon states and a singlet are generated dynamically, resulting in the case of strangeness $S=-1$ in two poles of the scattering matrix close to the nominal $\Lambda(1405)$ resonance. We suggest experiments which could show evidence for the existence of these states.Comment: Invited talk in the VIII International Conference on Hypernuclei and Strange Particle Physic

DN interaction from meson exchange

A model of the DN interaction is presented which is developed in close analogy to the meson-exchange KbarN potential of the Juelich group utilizing SU(4) symmetry constraints. The main ingredients of the interaction are provided by vector meson (rho, omega) exchange and higher-order box diagrams involving D*N, D\Delta, and D*\Delta intermediate states. The coupling of DN to the pi-Lambda_c and pi-Sigma_c channels is taken into account. The interaction model generates the Lambda_c(2595) resonance dynamically as a DN quasi-bound state. Results for DN total and differential cross sections are presented and compared with predictions of an interaction model that is based on the leading-order Weinberg-Tomozawa term. Some features of the Lambda_c(2595) resonance are discussed and the role of the near-by pi-Sigma_c threshold is emphasized. Selected predictions of the orginal KbarN model are reported too. Specifically, it is pointed out that the model generates two poles in the partial wave corresponding to the Lambda(1405) resonance.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Effects of pseudoscalar-baryon channels in the dynamically generated vector-baryon resonances

We study the interaction of vector mesons with the octet of stable baryons in the framework of the local hidden gauge formalism using a coupled channels unitary approach, including also the pseudoscalar-baryon channels which couple to the same quantum numbers. We examine the scattering amplitudes and their poles, which can be associated to known $J^P=1/2^-,3/2^-$ baryon resonances, and determine the role of the pseudoscalar-baryon channels, changing the width and eventually the mass of the resonances generated with only the basis of vector-baryon states