Constraints on the parameters of the CKM matrix by End 1998

A review of the current status of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix (CKM) is presented. This paper is an update of the results published in [1]. The experimental constraints imposed by the measurements of \epsilon_K, V_{ub}/V_{cb}, \Delta m_d and from the limit on \Delta m_d are used. Values of the constraints and of the parameters entering into the constraints, which restrict the range of the \bar{\rho} and \bar{\eta} parameters, include recent measurements presented at 1998 Summer Conferences and progress obtained by lattice QCD collaborations. The results are: \bar{\rho}=0.202 ^{+0.053}_{-0.059},\bar{\eta}=0.340 \pm 0.035, from which the angles \alpha, \beta and \gamma of the unitarity triangle are inferred : \sin 2 \alpha = -0.26 ^{+ 0.29}_{-0.28} ,\sin 2 \beta = 0.725 ^{+0.050}_{-0.060} ,\gamma= (59.5^{+8.5}_{-7.5})^{\circ}. Without using the constraint from \epsilon_K, \sin 2 \beta has been obtained: \sin 2 \beta = 0.72 ^{+0.07}_{-0.11}. Several external measurements or theoretical inputs have been removed, in turn, from the constraints and their respective probability density functions have been obtained. Central values and uncertainties on these quantities have been compared with actual measurements or theoretical evaluations. In this way it is possible to quantify the importance of the different measurements and the coherence of the Standard Model scenario for CP violation. An important result is that \Delta m_s is expected to be between [12.0-17.6] ps^{-1} with 68% C.L. and <20 ps^{-1} at 95% C.L. Finally relations between the CKM parameters and the quark masses are examined within a given model.Comment: 26 page

The Buried Scales of Deep Time: Beneath the Nation, Beyond the Human… and Back?

I have found out a gift for my fair ;I know where the fossils abound,Where the footprints of Aves declareThe birds that once walked on the ground.[…]We’ll note, love, in one summer’s dayThe record of millions of years ;And though the Darwinian planYour sensitive feelings may shock,We’ll find the beginning of man,Our fossil ancestors, in rock ! Bret Harte, “Geological Madrigal” (1871) The poet’s mischievous invitation to his paramour to walk down geology lane has recently found unexpected ech..

How the Earth Feels: A Conversation with Dana Luciano

Cécile Roudeau: The starting point of How the Earth Feels, your new book project, provocatively appeals to the sensory, cognitive and agential capacities of the earth’s inorganic elements and proposes to gauge the emotional, corporeal and intellectual impact of this assumption on us, humans. One dimension of your project will intersect with the notion of “deep time” insofar as it considers how the agency of rocks, earth, water, may recast our beliefs in human agency across time. Could you tel..

The Buried Scales of Deep Time: Beneath the Nation, Beyond the Human… and Back?

I have found out a gift for my fair ;I know where the fossils abound,Where the footprints of Aves declareThe birds that once walked on the ground.[…]We’ll note, love, in one summer’s dayThe record of millions of years ;And though the Darwinian planYour sensitive feelings may shock,We’ll find the beginning of man,Our fossil ancestors, in rock ! Bret Harte, “Geological Madrigal” (1871) The poet’s mischievous invitation to his paramour to walk down geology lane has recently found unexpected ech..

Why a Scalar Explanation of the L3 Events is Implausible

We investigate the question of whether an additional light neutral scalar can explain the $l^+ l^- \gamma \gamma$ events with high invariant mass photon pairs recently observed by the L3 collaboration. We parameterize the low energy effects of the unknown dynamics in terms of higher dimensional effective operators. We show that operators which allow for the scalar to be produced and decay into photon pairs will allow other observable processes that should have been seen in current experiments.Comment: Latex 14 pages (1 figure not included). MIT preprint CTP-219

A Conversation with Peter Coviello

Peter Coviello has kindly agreed to have a conversation with us via email about the questions we have been discussing in our research group “History and Literature” based at the Sorbonne Nouvelle and Université Paris-Diderot. Peter Coviello is Professor of American Literature at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the editor of Walt Whitman’s Memoranda During the War (2004) and the author of Intimacy in America: Dreams of Affiliation in Antebellum Literature (2005) and Tomorrow’s Par..

New flavor physics in bb decays

A new $U(1)$ gauge boson coupling predominantly to the third family has been considered in connection with recent LEP data. We consider another likely consequence of such a gauge boson, a greatly enhanced $b$ quark decay mode, b \to s \nnbar.Comment: 6 pages, Latex documen

2000 CKM-Triangle Analysis A Critical Review with Updated Experimental Inputs and Theoretical Parameters

Within the Standard Model, a review of the current determination of the sides and angles of the CKM unitarity triangle is presented, using experimental constraints from the measurements of |\epsilon_K|, |V_{ub}/V_{cb}|, \Delta m_d and from the limit on \Delta m_s, available in September 2000. Results from the experimental search for {B}^0_s-\bar{B}^0_s oscillations are introduced in the present analysis using the likelihood. Special attention is devoted to the determination of the theoretical uncertainties. The purpose of the analysis is to infer regions where the parameters of interest lie with given probabilities. The BaBar "95 %, C.L. scanning" method is also commented.Comment: 44 pages (revised version

Heavy Quark Parameters and Vcb from Spectral Moments in Semileptonic B Decays

We extract the heavy quark masses and non-perturbative parameters from the Delphi preliminary measurements of the first three moments of the charged lepton energy and hadronic mass distributions in semileptonic B decays, using a multi-parameter fit. We adopt two formalisms, one of which does not rely on a 1/mc expansion and makes use of running quark masses. The data are consistent and the level of accuracy of the experimental inputs largely determines the present sensitivity. The results allow to improve on the uncertainty in the extraction of Vcb.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure