Chiral Perturbation Theory with Virtual Photons and Leptons

We construct a low-energy effective field theory which allows the full treatment of isospin-breaking effects in semileptonic weak interactions. To this end, we enlarge the particle spectrum of chiral perturbation theory with virtual photons by including also the light leptons as dynamical degrees of freedom. Using super-heat-kernel techniques, we determine the additional one-loop divergences generated by the presence of virtual leptons and give the full list of associated local counterterms. We illustrate the use of our effective theory by applying it to the decays pi -> l nu_{l} and K -> l nu_{l}.Comment: 22 pages, no figure

Radiative corrections to K_{l3} decays

We present a complete calculation of the K_{l3} decays K^+ --> pi^0 l^+ nu_l and K^0 --> pi^- l^+ nu_l to O(p^4, (m_d-m_u) p^2, e^2 p^2) in chiral perturbation theory with virtual photons and leptons. We introduce the concept of generalized form factors and kinematical densities in the presence of electromagnetism, and propose a possible treatment of the real photon emission in K^+_{l3} decays. We illustrate our results by applying them to the extraction of the Kobayashi--Maskawa matrix element |V_{us}| from the experimental K^+_{e3} decay parameters.Comment: 13 page

Strings, monopoles, and meson states

Dirac's formulation of the monopole theory modified by an additional mass term for the gauge field has been considered as a possible simplified model for quark binding. We discuss methods for the consistent regularization of the infinities present in the resulting action and equations of motion. In this way we are led to an action which is the same as that suggested by previous authors. We show that the expression for the energy of the modified action still has infinities unless the mass of the gauge field is infinite. Thus the regularization procedure is incomplete when the gauge field has finite mass. Applications of the regularized model to charmonium and other meson states are discussed

Isospin Violation in Chiral Perturbation Theory and the Decays \eta \ra \pi \ell \nu and \tau \ra \eta \pi \nu

I discuss isospin breaking effects within the standard model. Chiral perturbation theory presents the appropriate theoretical framework for such an investigation in the low--energy range. Recent results on the electromagnetic contributions to the masses of the pseudoscalar mesons and the $K_{\ell 3}$ amplitudes are reported. Using the one--loop formulae for the $\eta_{\ell 3}$ form factors, rather precise predictions for the decay rates of $\eta \rightarrow \pi \ell \nu$ can be obtained. Finally, I present an estimate of the \tau \ra \eta \pi \nu branching ratio derived from the dominant meson resonance contributions to this decay.Comment: 10 pages, latex, one figure available upon reques

The Electromagnetic Interaction in Chiral Perturbation Theory

We investigate electromagnetic effects in the framework of chiral perturbation theory. Using a completely independent method, we confirm Urech's results for the divergences of the one--loop functional in the electromagnetic sector. We perform a one--loop analysis of all $P_{\ell 2}$ ($P = \pi, K, \eta$) and the $K_{\ell 3}$ form factors $f_+^{K^+\pi^0}(0)$, $f_+^{K^0\pi^-}(0)$, including a systematic treatment of the \cO(e^2p^2) contributions in the mesonic part. We illustrate our results by several numerical estimates.Comment: 15 pages, late

CP violation

The salient features of CP-violating interactions in the standard electroweak theory and in a few of its popular extensions are discussed. Moreover a brief overview is given on the status and prospects of searches for CP non-conservation effects in low and high energy experiments.Comment: 28 pages, Lectures given at the 37th Winter School on Particle Physics, Schladming, Austria, 199