Pion Pair Production with Higher Order Radiative Corrections in Low Energy e+e- Collisions

The complete one-loop QED initial state, final state and initial--final state interference corrections to the process e+e- -> pi+pi- are presented. Analytic formulae are given for the virtual and for the real photon corrections. The total cross section, the pion angular distribution and the pi+pi- invariant mass distribution are investigated in the regime of experimentally realistic kinematical cuts. It is shown that in addition to the full one-loop corrections also two-loop initial state corrections and even the resummation of higher order soft photon logarithms can be necessary if at least per cent accuracy is required. For the data analysis we focus on an inclusive treatment of all photons. The theoretical error concerning our treatment of radiative corrections is then estimated to be less than 2 per mille for both the measurement of the total cross section and the pi+pi- invariant mass distribution. In addition we discuss the model uncertainty due to the pion substructure. Altogether the precision of the theoretical prediction matches the requirements of low energy e+e- experiments like the ones going on at DAFNE or VEPP-2M.Comment: 16 pages 9 figures 7 tables; 6 figs added+text; modified Eqs.(56,68), enhanced appendice

On the difference between the pole and the MSbar masses of the top quark at the electroweak scale

We argue that for a Higgs boson mass M_H ~125 GeV, as suggested by recent Higgs searches at the LHC, the inclusion of electroweak radiative corrections in the relationship between the pole and MS-bar masses of the top quark reduces the difference to about 1 GeV. This is relevant for the scheme dependence of electroweak observables, such as the rho parameter, as well as for the extraction of the top quark mass from experimental data. In fact, the value currently extracted by reconstructing the invariant mass of the top quark decay products is expected to be close to the pole mass, while the analysis of the total cross section of top quark pair production yields a clean determination of the MS-bar mass.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure; discussion extended, figure improved, references added; accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

Self-consistence of the Standard Model via the renormalization group analysis

A short review of recent renormalization group analyses of the self-consistence of the Standard Model is presented.Comment: 10 pages; 5 figures; To appear in the Proceedings of the 16th International Workshop ACAT- 2014 (Advanced Computing and Analysis Techniques in physics), Prague, Czech Republic, 01-05 September 201

Hadronic Contributions to the Photon Vacuum Polarization and their Role in Precision Physics

I review recent evaluations of the hadronic contribution to the shift in the fine structure constant and to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. Substantial progress in a precise determination of these important observables is a consequence of substantially improved total cross section measurement by the CMD-2 and BES II collaborations and an improved theoretical understanding. Prospects for further possible progress is discussed.Comment: 17 pages 7 figures 2 tables, update: incl. CMD-2 data, reference

Four-fermion production with RACOONWW

RACOONWW is an event generator for e+e- --> WW --> 4fermions(+gamma) that includes full tree-level predictions for e+e- --> 4f and e+e- --> 4f+gamma as well as O(alpha) corrections to e+e- --> 4f in the so-called double-pole approximation. We briefly sketch the concept of the calculation on which this generator is based and present some numerical results.Comment: 9 pages, latex, 6 postscript files, to appear in the proceedings of the UK Phenomenology Workshop on Collider Physics, Durham, UK, 19-24 September, 199

Adaptive Step Size for Hybrid Monte Carlo Algorithm

We implement an adaptive step size method for the Hybrid Monte Carlo a lgorithm. The adaptive step size is given by solving a symmetric error equation. An integr ator with such an adaptive step size is reversible. Although we observe appreciable variations of the step size, the overhead of the method exceeds its benefits. We propose an explanation for this phenomenon.Comment: 13 pages, 5 Postscript figures, late

Exact Local Bosonic Algorithm for Dynamical Quarks

We present an exact local bosonic algorithm for the simulation of dynamical fermions in lattice QCD. We show that this algorithm is a viable alternative to the Hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm.Comment: 3 pages, 1 PostScript figure; Talk presented at LATTICE96(algorithms