Hadronic Charmed Meson Decays Involving Tensor Mesons

Charmed meson decays into a pseudoscalar meson P and a tensor meson T are studied. The charm to tensor meson transition form factors are evaluated in the Isgur-Scora-Grinstein-Wise (ISGW) quark model. It is shown that the Cabibbo-allowed decay $D_s^+\to f_2(1270)\pi^+$ is dominated by the W-annihilation contribution and has the largest branching ratio in $D\to TP$ decays. We argue that the Cabibbo-suppressed mode $D^+\to f_2(1270)\pi^+$ should be suppressed by one order of magnitude relative to $D_s^+\to f_2(1270)\pi^+$. When the finite width effect of the tensor resonances is taken into account, the decay rate of $D\to TP$ is generally enhanced by a factor of $2\sim 3$. Except for $D_s^+\to f_2(1270)\pi^+$, the predicted branching ratios of $D\to TP$ decays are in general too small by one to two orders of magnitude compared to experiment. However, it is very unlikely that the $D\to T$ transition form factors can be enhanced by a factor of $3\sim 5$ within the ISGW quark model to account for the discrepancy between theory and experiment. As many of the current data are still preliminary and lack sufficient statistic significance, more accurate measurements are needed to pin down the issue.Comment: 11 page

Two-Body Cabibbo-Suppressed Charmed Meson Decays

Singly-Cabibbo-suppressed decays of charmed particles governed by the quark subprocesses $c \to s u \bar s$ and $c \to d u \bar d$ are analyzed using a flavor-topology approach, based on a previous analysis of the Cabibbo-favored decays governed by $c \to s u \bar d$. Decays to $PP$ and $PV$, where $P$ is a pseudoscalar meson and $V$ is a vector meson, are considered. We include processes in which $\eta$ and $\eta '$ are produced.Comment: 18 pages, latex, 2 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Comments on the Quark Content of the Scalar Meson f0(1370)f_0(1370)

Based on the measurements of $(D_s^+,D^+)\to f_0(1370)\pi^+$ we determine, in a model independent way, the allowed $s\bar s$ content in the scalar meson $f_0(1370)$. We find that, on the one hand, if this isoscalar resonance is a pure $n\bar n$ state [ $n\bar n\equiv(u\bar u+d\bar d)/\sqrt{2} ]$, a very large $W$-annihilation term will be needed to accommodate $D_s^+\to f_0(1370)\pi^+$. On the other hand, the $s\bar s$ component of $f_0(1370)$ should be small enough to avoid excessive $D_s^+\to f_0(1370)\pi^+$ induced from the external $W$-emission. Measurement of $f_0(1370)$ production in the decay $D_s^+\to K^+K^-\pi^+$ will be useful to test the above picture. For the decay $D^0\to f_0(1370)\bar K^0$ which is kinematically barely or even not allowed, depending on the mass of $f_0(1370)$, we find that the finite width effect of $f_0(1370)$ plays a crucial role on the resonant three-body decay $D^0\to f_0(1370)\bar K^0\to\pi^+\pi^-\bar K^0$.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

Nonresonant Three-body Decays of D and B Mesons

Nonresonant three-body decays of D and B mesons are studied. It is pointed out that if heavy meson chiral perturbation theory (HMChPT) is applied to the heavy-light strong and weak vertices and assumed to be valid over the whole kinematic region, then the predicted decay rates for nonresonant charmless 3-body B decays will be too large and especially B^- --> pi^- K^+ K^- greatly exceeds the current experimental limit. This can be understood as chiral symmetry has been applied there twice beyond its region of validity. If HMChPT is applied only to the strong vertex and the weak transition is accounted for by the form factors, the dominant B^* pole contribution to the tree-dominated direct three-body B decays will become small and the branching ratio will be of order 10^{-6}. The decay modes B^- --> (K^- h^+ h^-)_{NR} and bar{B}^0 --> (bar{K}^0 h^+h^-)_{NR} for h = pi, K are penguin dominated. We apply HMChPT in two different cases to study the direct 3-body D decays and compare the results with experiment. Theoretical uncertainties are discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures. New experimental results of direct 3-body D decays as Reported at ICHEP2002 are included. To appear in Phys. Re

Leptonic and Semileptonic Decays of Charm and Bottom Hadrons

We review the experimental measurements and theoretical descriptions of leptonic and semileptonic decays of particles containing a single heavy quark, either charm or bottom. Measurements of bottom semileptonic decays are used to determine the magnitudes of two fundamental parameters of the standard model, the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements $V_{cb}$ and $V_{ub}$. These parameters are connected with the physics of quark flavor and mass, and they have important implications for the breakdown of CP symmetry. To extract precise values of $|V_{cb}|$ and $|V_{ub}|$ from measurements, however, requires a good understanding of the decay dynamics. Measurements of both charm and bottom decay distributions provide information on the interactions governing these processes. The underlying weak transition in each case is relatively simple, but the strong interactions that bind the quarks into hadrons introduce complications. We also discuss new theoretical approaches, especially heavy-quark effective theory and lattice QCD, which are providing insights and predictions now being tested by experiment. An international effort at many laboratories will rapidly advance knowledge of this physics during the next decade.Comment: This review article will be published in Reviews of Modern Physics in the fall, 1995. This file contains only the abstract and the table of contents. The full 168-page document including 47 figures is available at http://charm.physics.ucsb.edu/papers/slrevtex.p

Measurements of Cabibbo Suppressed Hadronic Decay Fractions of Charmed D0 and D+ Mesons

Using data collected with the BESII detector at $e^{+}e^{-}$ storage ring Beijing Electron Positron Collider, the measurements of relative branching fractions for seven Cabibbo suppressed hadronic weak decays $D^0 \to K^- K^+$, $\pi^+ \pi^-$, $K^- K^+ \pi^+ \pi^-$ and $\pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^-$, $D^+ \to \bar{K^0} K^+$, $K^- K^+ \pi^+$ and $\pi^- \pi^+ \pi^+$ are presented.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Characterization of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infections in Women Who Received Injectable Cabotegravir or Tenofovir Disoproxil Fumarate/Emtricitabine for HIV Prevention: HPTN 084

Background: HIV Prevention Trials Network 084 demonstrated that long-acting injectable cabotegravir (CAB) was superior to daily oral tenofovir (TFV) disoproxil fumarate (TDF)/emtricitabine (FTC) for preventing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in sub-Saharan African women. This report describes HIV infections that occurred in the trial before unblinding. Methods: Testing was performed using HIV diagnostic assays, viral load testing, a single-copy RNA assay, and HIV genotyping. Plasma CAB, plasma TFV, and intraerythrocytic TFV-diphosphate concentrations were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results: Forty HIV infections were identified (CAB arm, 1 baseline infection, 3 incident infections; TDF/FTC arm, 36 incident infections). The incident infections in the CAB arm included 2 with no recent drug exposure and no CAB injections and 1 with delayed injections; in 35 of 36 cases in the TDF/FTC arm, drug concentrations indicated low or no adherence. None of the cases had CAB resistance. Nine women in the TDF/FTC arm had nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor resistance; 1 had the nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor resistance mutation, M184V. Conclusions: Almost all incident HIV infections occurred in the setting of unquantifiable or low drug concentrations. CAB resistance was not detected. Transmitted nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor resistance was common; 1 woman may have acquired nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor resistance from study drug exposure

Search for strong gravity in multijet final states produced in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector at the LHC

A search is conducted for new physics in multijet final states using 3.6 inverse femtobarns of data from proton-proton collisions at √s = 13TeV taken at the CERN Large Hadron Collider with the ATLAS detector. Events are selected containing at least three jets with scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT) greater than 1TeV. No excess is seen at large HT and limits are presented on new physics: models which produce final states containing at least three jets and having cross sections larger than 1.6 fb with HT > 5.8 TeV are excluded. Limits are also given in terms of new physics models of strong gravity that hypothesize additional space-time dimensions

Operation and performance of the ATLAS semiconductor tracker

The semiconductor tracker is a silicon microstrip detector forming part of the inner tracking system of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The operation and performance of the semiconductor tracker during the first years of LHC running are described. More than 99% of the detector modules were operational during this period, with an average intrinsic hit efficiency of (99.74±0.04)%. The evolution of the noise occupancy is discussed, and measurements of the Lorentz angle, δ-ray production and energy loss presented. The alignment of the detector is found to be stable at the few-micron level over long periods of time. Radiation damage measurements, which include the evolution of detector leakage currents, are found to be consistent with predictions and are used in the verification of radiation background simulations

Measurement of the correlation between flow harmonics of different order in lead-lead collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Correlations between the elliptic or triangular flow coefficients vm (m=2 or 3) and other flow harmonics vn (n=2 to 5) are measured using √sNN=2.76 TeV Pb+Pb collision data collected in 2010 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 7 μb−1. The vm−vn correlations are measured in midrapidity as a function of centrality, and, for events within the same centrality interval, as a function of event ellipticity or triangularity defined in a forward rapidity region. For events within the same centrality interval, v3 is found to be anticorrelated with v2 and this anticorrelation is consistent with similar anticorrelations between the corresponding eccentricities, ε2 and ε3. However, it is observed that v4 increases strongly with v2, and v5 increases strongly with both v2 and v3. The trend and strength of the vm−vn correlations for n=4 and 5 are found to disagree with εm−εn correlations predicted by initial-geometry models. Instead, these correlations are found to be consistent with the combined effects of a linear contribution to vn and a nonlinear term that is a function of v22 or of v2v3, as predicted by hydrodynamic models. A simple two-component fit is used to separate these two contributions. The extracted linear and nonlinear contributions to v4 and v5 are found to be consistent with previously measured event-plane correlations