Probing New Physics From CP Violation in Radiative B Decays

When new CP-violating interactions are dominated by flavor changing neutral particle exchanges, that may occur in many extensions of the standard model. We examine a type 3 two Higgs doublet model and find that direct CP asymmetries can be as large as about 25% . Time-dependent and time-integrated mixing-induced CP asymmetries up to 85 and 40 %, respectively, are possible without conflict with other constraints. It mainly requirs an enhanced chromo-magnetic dipole $b\to sg$ decay to be close to the present experimental bound.Comment: 7 pages, latex, no figure

Beyond the Standard Model in B Decays: Three Topics

Three new results are discussed: (a) A non-vanishing amplitude for the `wrong sign{'} kaon decay $B \to J/\Psi \bar{K}$ or its CP conjugate is shown to be a necessary condition for obtaining different CP asymmetries in $B \to J/\Psi K_{S,L}$. A significant effect would require a scale of new physics far below the weak scale, all but ruling out this possibility. (b) The leading isospin breaking contributions to the $B \to K^* \gamma$ decay amplitudes can be calculated in QCD factorization, providing a sensitive probe of the penguin sector of the effective weak Hamiltonian. New physics models which reverse the predicted $10-20$ Standard Model amplitude hierarchy could be ruled out with more precise data. (c) A slowly falling $g^* g \eta^\prime$ form factor can be ruled out using the $\eta^\prime$ spectrum obtained by ARGUS at the $\Upsilon (1S)$. The decay $b \to s g \eta^\prime$ is therefore highly suppressed and the origin of the anomalously large $B \to \eta^\prime X_s$ rate remains unknown, perhaps requiring the intervention of New Physics.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

The Minimal Modal Interpretation of Quantum Theory

We introduce a realist, unextravagant interpretation of quantum theory that builds on the existing physical structure of the theory and allows experiments to have definite outcomes, but leaves the theory's basic dynamical content essentially intact. Much as classical systems have specific states that evolve along definite trajectories through configuration spaces, the traditional formulation of quantum theory asserts that closed quantum systems have specific states that evolve unitarily along definite trajectories through Hilbert spaces, and our interpretation extends this intuitive picture of states and Hilbert-space trajectories to the case of open quantum systems as well. We provide independent justification for the partial-trace operation for density matrices, reformulate wave-function collapse in terms of an underlying interpolating dynamics, derive the Born rule from deeper principles, resolve several open questions regarding ontological stability and dynamics, address a number of familiar no-go theorems, and argue that our interpretation is ultimately compatible with Lorentz invariance. Along the way, we also investigate a number of unexplored features of quantum theory, including an interesting geometrical structure---which we call subsystem space---that we believe merits further study. We include an appendix that briefly reviews the traditional Copenhagen interpretation and the measurement problem of quantum theory, as well as the instrumentalist approach and a collection of foundational theorems not otherwise discussed in the main text.Comment: 73 pages + references, 9 figures; cosmetic changes, added figure, updated references, generalized conditional probabilities with attendant changes to the sections on the EPR-Bohm thought experiment and Lorentz invariance; for a concise summary, see the companion letter at arXiv:1405.675

Intercluster Correlation in Seismicity

Mega et al.(cond-mat/0212529) proposed to use the ``diffusion entropy'' (DE) method to demonstrate that the distribution of time intervals between a large earthquake (the mainshock of a given seismic sequence) and the next one does not obey Poisson statistics. We have performed synthetic tests which show that the DE is unable to detect correlations between clusters, thus negating the claimed possibility of detecting an intercluster correlation. We also show that the LR model, proposed by Mega et al. to reproduce inter-cluster correlation, is insufficient to account for the correlation observed in the data.Comment: Comment on Mega et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90. 188501 (2003) (cond-mat/0212529

Manifestation of superfluidity in an evolving Bose-condensed gas

We study the generation of excitations due to an ''impurity''(static perturbation) placed into an oscillating Bose-condensed gas in the time-dependent trapping field. It is shown that there are two regions for the position of the local perturbation. In the first region the condensate flows around the ''impurity'' without generation of excitations demonstrating superfluid properties. In the second region the creation of excitations occurs, at least within a limited time interval, revealing destruction of superfluidity. The phenomenon can be studied by measuring the damping of condensate oscillations at different positions of the ''impurity''