Charmless hadronic B decays and the recent CLEO data

In the light of recent experimental data from the CLEO Collaboration we study, the decays of B mesons to a pair of pseudoscalar (P) mesons, and a vector (V) meson and a pseudoscalar meson, in the framework of factorization. In order to obtain the best fit for the recent CLEO data, we critically examine the values of several input parameters to which the predictions are sensitive. These input parameters are the form factors, the strange quark mass, $\xi \equiv 1/ N_c$ (N_c is the effective number of color), the CKM matrix elements and in particular, the weak phase $\gamma$. It is possible to give a satisfactory account of the recent experimental results in $B \to PP$ and VP decays, with constrained values of a \emph{single} $\xi$. We identify the decay modes in which CP asymmetries are expected to be large.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, LaTex; Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Charmless Non-Leptonic B Decays and R-parity Violating Supersymmetry

We examine the charmless hadronic B decay modes in the context of R-parity violating (\rpv) supersymmetry. We try to explain the large branching ratio (compared to the Standard Model (SM) prediction) of the decay $B^{\pm}\to \eta' K^{\pm}$. There exist data for other observed $\eta^{(\prime)}$ modes and among these modes, the decay $B^{0}\to \eta K^{*0}$ is also found to be large compared to the SM prediction. We investigate all these modes and find that only two pairs of \rpv coupling can satisfy the requirements without affecting the other B\ra PP and B\ra VP decay modes barring the decay B\ra\phi K. From this analysis, we determine the preferred values of the \rpv couplings and the effective number of color $N_c$. We also calculate the CP asymmetry for the observed decay modes affected by these new couplings.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures; revtex; version published in Phys. Lett.

Hadronic B Decays to Charmless VT Final States

Charmless hadronic decays of B mesons to a vector meson (V) and a tensor meson (T) are analyzed in the frameworks of both flavor SU(3) symmetry and generalized factorization. We also make comments on B decays to two tensor mesons in the final states. Certain ways to test validity of the generalized factorization are proposed, using $B \to VT$ decays. We calculate the branching ratios and CP asymmetries using the full effective Hamiltonian including all the penguin operators and the form factors obtained in the non-relativistic quark model of Isgur, Scora, Grinstein and Wise.Comment: 27 pages, no figures, LaTe

Regulation of the Neuron-specific Ras GTPase-activating Protein, synGAP, by Ca2+/Calmodulin-dependent Protein Kinase II

synGAP is a neuron-specific Ras GTPase-activating protein found in high concentration in the postsynaptic density fraction from mammalian forebrain. Proteins in the postsynaptic density, including synGAP, are part of a signaling complex attached to the cytoplasmic tail of the N-methyl-D-aspartate-type glutamate receptor. synGAP can be phosphorylated by a second prominent component of the complex, Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II. Here we show that phosphorylation of synGAP by Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II increases its Ras GTPase-activating activity by 70-95%. We identify four major sites of phosphorylation, serines 1123, 1058, 750/751/756, and 764/765. These sites together with other minor phosphorylation sites in the carboxyl tail of synGAP control stimulation of GTPase-activating activity. When three of these sites and four other serines in the carboxyl tail are mutated, stimulation of GAP activity after phosphorylation is reduced to 21 ± 5% compared with 70-95% for the wild type protein. We used phosphosite-specific antibodies to show that, as predicted, phosphorylation of serines 765 and 1123 is increased in cultured cortical neurons after exposure of the neurons to the agonist N-methyl-D-aspartate

Betweenness centrality correlation in social networks

Scale-free (SF) networks exhibiting a power-law degree distribution can be grouped into the assortative, dissortative and neutral networks according to the behavior of the degree-degree correlation coefficient. Here we investigate the betweenness centrality (BC) correlation for each type of SF networks. While the BC-BC correlation coefficients behave similarly to the degree-degree correlation coefficients for the dissortative and neutral networks, the BC correlation is nontrivial for the assortative ones found mainly in social networks. The mean BC of neighbors of a vertex with BC $g_i$ is almost independent of $g_i$, implying that each person is surrounded by almost the same influential environments of people no matter how influential the person is.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Effects of uncertainties and errors on Lyapunov control

Lyapunov control (open-loop) is often confronted with uncertainties and errors in practical applications. In this paper, we analyze the robustness of Lyapunov control against the uncertainties and errors in quantum control systems. The analysis is carried out through examinations of uncertainties and errors, calculations of the control fidelity under influences of the certainties and errors, as well as discussions on the caused effects. Two examples, a closed control system and an open control system, are presented to illustrate the general formulism.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure