The double life of the X meson

The molecule and the tetraquark model are the two competing interpretations of the X(3872). I will briefly comment on how far these two pictures are really resolvable by the experiment, and I will give a concise account on a new method for defining the quark content of hadrons at heavy-ion colliders.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in the Proceedings of IFAE2006, Pavia, Ital

How can one understand the lightest scalars, especially the sigma

We discuss how the a_0(980), f_0(980), K^*_0(1430) and particularly the broad sigma resonance can be understood within a coupled channel framework, which includes all light two-pseudoscalar thresholds together with constraints from Adler zeroes, flavour symmetric couplings, unitarity and physically acceptable analyticity. All (qbar q) scalars are, when unitarized, strongly distorted by hadronic mass shifts, and the nonstrange isoscalar state becomes a very broad resonance, with its pole at 470-i250 MeV. We believe this is the sigma meson required by models for spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry. Recently this light resonance has clearly been observed in D-> sigma pi-> 3pi by the E791 experiment at Fermilab, and we discuss how this decay channel can be predicted in a Constituent Quark Meson Model (CQM), which incorporates heavy quark and chiral symmetries. We also discuss the less well known phenomenon that with a large coupling there can appear two physical resonance poles on the second sheet although only one bare quark-antiquark state is put in. The f_0(980) and f_0(1370) resonance poles can thus be two manifestations of the same (sbar s) quark state. Both of these states are seen clearly in D_s-> 3pi by the E791 experiment, where (sbar s) intermediate states are expected to be dominant.Comment: 9 pages; Invited plenary talk by N.A. Tornqvist at the ''Biennial Conference on Low Energy Antiproton Physics'' (LEAP2000), Venice, Italy, August 20-26, 2000. To appear in Nucl. Phys. A (proc. suppl.

H -> gamma gamma: a Comment on the Indeterminacy of Non-Gauge-Invariant Integrals

We reanalyze the recent computation of the amplitude of the Higgs boson decay into two photons presented by Gastmans et al.. The reasons for which this result cannot be the correct one have been discussed in some recent papers. We address here the general issue of the indeterminacy of integrals with four-dimensional gauge-breaking regulators and to which extent it might eventually be solved by imposing physical constraints. Imposing gauge invariance as the last step upon R_xi gauge calculations with four-dimensional gauge-breaking regulators, allows indeed to recover the well known H -> gamma gamma result. However we show that in the particular case of the unitary gauge, the indeterminacy cannot be tackled in this same way. The combination of unitary gauge with a cutoff regularization scheme turns out to be non-predictive.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

On the mass of the Ds(0+,1+) system

In this note we discuss a determination for the mass of the Ds(0+,1+) system recently discovered by the BaBar, CLEO II and Belle Collaborations. The value of the mass is derived by making explicit the prediction obtained in a quark-meson model prior to the discovery of these states.Comment: 3 pages, revte

Jet Shapes in Opaque Media

We present general arguments, based on medium-induced radiative energy loss, which reproduce the non-gaussian shapes of away-side di-jet azimuthal correlations found in nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC. A rather simple generalization of the Sudakov form factors to opaque media allowing an effective description of the experimental data is proposed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 ps figure

Heavier Higgs Particles: Indications from Minimal Supersymmetry

We use the most recent data on the Higgs-like resonance h observed at 125 GeV to derive information about the mass of the heavier Higgs particles predicted by Minimal Supersymmetry. We treat as independent parameters the couplings of h to top quark, beauty and massive vector bosons and, in this three dimensional space, we locate the point realizing the best fit to data and compare it to the position of the Standard Model point and to the region of coupling values accommodating heavier Higgs particles in Minimal Supersymmetry. We conclude that mass values 320< M_H< 360 GeV are compatible at 2sigma with the best fit of couplings to present data, larger values being compatible at the 1sigma level. Values of 1< tan(beta)< 6 are compatible with data.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Clarifications and new references adde

Indications of a Four-Quark Structure for the X(3872) and X(3876) Particles from Recent Belle and BABAR Data

Recent results by BELLE and BaBar point to the existence of a second X particle decaying in D^0 D^0bar pi^0, a few MeV above the X(3872). We identify the two X states with the neutral particles predicted by the 4-quark model and show that production and decays are consistent with this assignement. We consider the yet-to-be-observed charged partners and give new hints on how to look for them.Comment: 5 pages, some revision of the text, results unchanged. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Neutron Production Rates by Inverse-Beta Decay in Fully Ionized Plasmas

Recently we showed that the nuclear transmutation rates are largely overestimated in the Widom-Larsen theory of the so called `Low Energy Nuclear Reactions'. Here we show that unbound plasma electrons are even less likely to initiate nuclear transmutations.Comment: 9 pages, 1 Figure, minor revisions and clarifications, results unchanged. To appear in EPJ

The Hydrogen Bond of QCD

Using the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, we show that exotic resonances, X and Z, may emerge as QCD molecular objects made of colored two-quark lumps, states with heavy-light diquarks spatially separated from antidiquarks. With the same method we confirm that doubly heavy tetraquarks are stable against strong decays. Tetraquarks described here provide a new picture of exotic hadrons, as formed by the QCD analog of the hydrogen bond of molecular physics.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, comments and references added. Table 1 extende