Huge right-handed current effects in B->K*(K pi)l+l- in supersymmetry

Transverse asymmetries in the decay B->K*(K pi)l+l- are an extremely sensitive probe of right-handed flavour-changing neutral currents. We show how to include the contribution from the chiral partner of the electromagnetic operator on the transverse asymmetries at NLO in QCD factorization. We then consider supersymmetric models with non-minimal flavour violation in the down-squark sector. We include all the relevant experimental constraints and present a numerical formula for B->Xs gamma that takes into account the most recent NNLO calculations. We show that the flavour-changing parameters of these models are poorly constrained by present data and allow for large effects on the transverse asymmetries that we consider.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, version to appear on JHE

Extended Minimal Flavour Violating MSSM and Implications for B Physics

The recently reported measurements of the CP asymmetry a(psi K) by the BABAR and BELLE collaborations are in good agreement with the standard model (SM) prediction, resulting from the unitarity of the CKM matrix. The so-called minimal flavour violating (MFV) supersymmetric extensions of the standard model, in which the CKM matrix remains the only flavour changing structure, predict a(psi K) similar to the one in the SM. With the anticipated precision in a(psi K) and other CP asymmetries at the B factories and hadron colliders, one hopes to pin down any possible deviation from the SM. We discuss an extension of the MFV-supersymmetric models which comfortably accommodates the current measurements of the CP asymmetry a(psi K), but differs from the SM and the MFV-supersymmetric models due to an additional flavour changing structure beyond the CKM matrix. We suggest specific tests in forthcoming experiments in B physics. In addition to the CP-asymmetries in B-meson decays, such as a(psi K) and a(pi pi), and the mass difference Delta M_s in the Bs-bar(Bs) system, we emphasize measurements of the radiative transition b -> d gamma as sensitive probes of the postulated flavour changing structure. Interestingly, the CKM-unitarity analysis in the Extended-MFV model also allows solutions rho < 0, as opposed to the SM and the MFV models for which only rho > 0 solutions are now admissible, implying gamma > pi/2, where gamma=- arg (Vub). Such large values of gamma are hinted by the current measurements of the branching ratios for the decays B -> pi pi and B -> K pi.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures. Theoretical analysis modified in view of the recent CP violation observed in B-> J/Psi K decays. Resulting constraints on the model parameters are recompute

Updated NLL Results for B -> (Xs,Xd) gamma in and beyond the SM

We present general model-independent formulae for the branching ratios and the direct tagged CP asymmetries for the inclusive B -> Xd gamma and B -> Xs gamma modes. We also update the corresponding SM predictions.Comment: 3 pages, Contribution to the International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics EPS03, 17-23 July 2003, Aachen, Germany, minor change

Cave Communities: From the Surface Border to the Deep Darkness

The discipline of subterranean biology has provided us incredible information on the diversity, ecology and evolution of species living in different typologies of subterranean habitats. However, a general lack of information on the relationships between cave species still exists, leaving uncertainty regarding the dynamics that hold together cave communities and the roles of specific organisms (from the least to the most adapted species) for the community, as well as the entire ecosystem. This Special Issue aims to stimulate and gather studies which are focusing on cave communities belonging to all different typologies of subterranean habitats, with the overarching goal to corroborate the key role of the subterranean biology in ecological and evolutionary studies

General Flavor Blind MSSM and CP Violation

We study the implications on flavor changing neutral current and CP violating processes in the context of supersymmetric theories without a new flavor structure (flavor blind supersymmetry). The low energy parameters are determined by the running of the soft breaking terms from the grand unified scale with SUSY phases consistent with the EDM constraints. We find that the CP asymmetry in b --> s gamma can reach large values potentially measurable at B factories, especially in the low BR(b --> s gamma) region. We perform a fit of the unitarity triangle including all the relevant observables. In this case, no sizeable deviations from the SM expectations are found. Finally we analyze the SUSY contributions to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon pointing out its impact on the b --> s gamma CP asymmetry and on the SUSY spectrum including chargino and stop masses.Comment: 40 pages, 8 figures, typos corrected, references adde