pi-pi and pi-K scatterings in three-flavour resummed chiral perturbation theory

The (light but not-so-light) strange quark may play a special role in the low-energy dynamics of QCD. The presence of strange quark pairs in the sea may have a significant impact of the pattern of chiral symmetry breaking : in particular large differences can occur between the chiral limits of two and three massless flavours (i.e., whether m_s is kept at its physical value or sent to zero). This may induce problems of convergence in three-flavour chiral expansions. To cope with such difficulties, we introduce a new framework, called Resummed Chiral Perturbation Theory. We exploit it to analyse pi-pi and pi-K scatterings and match them with dispersive results in a frequentist framework. Constraints on three-flavour chiral order parameters are derived.Comment: Proceedings of the EPS-HEP 2007 Conference, Manchester (UK). 3 pages, 1 figur

The role of strange sea quarks in chiral extrapolations on the lattice

Since the strange quark has a light mass of order Lambda_QCD, fluctuations of sea s-s bar pairs may play a special role in the low-energy dynamics of QCD by inducing significantly different patterns of chiral symmetry breaking in the chiral limits N_f=2 (m_u=m_d=0, m_s physical) and N_f=3 (m_u=m_d=m_s=0). This effect of vacuum fluctuations of s-s bar pairs is related to the violation of the Zweig rule in the scalar sector, described through the two O(p^4) low-energy constants L_4 and L_6 of the three-flavour strong chiral lagrangian. In the case of significant vacuum fluctuations, three-flavour chiral expansions might exhibit a numerical competition between leading- and next-to-leading-order terms according to the chiral counting, and chiral extrapolations should be handled with a special care. We investigate the impact of the fluctuations of s-s bar pairs on chiral extrapolations in the case of lattice simulations with three dynamical flavours in the isospin limit. Information on the size of the vacuum fluctuations can be obtained from the dependence of the masses and decay constants of pions and kaons on the light quark masses. Even in the case of large fluctuations, corrections due to the finite size of spatial dimensions can be kept under control for large enough boxes (L around 2.5 fm).Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures. A few comments added and typos correcte

Renormalization of B-meson distribution amplitudes

We summarize a recent calculation of the evolution kernels of the two-particle B-meson distribution amplitudes $\phi_+$ and $\phi_-$ taking into account three-particle contributions. In addition to a few phenomenological comments, we give as a new result the evolution kernel of the combination of three-particle distribution amplitudes $\Psi_A-\Psi_V$ and confirm constraints on $\phi_+$ and $\phi_-$ derived from the light-quark equation of motion.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of the Int. Workshop on Effective Field Theories: from the pion to the upsilon. Feb. 2009. Valencia, Spai

A note on renormalon models for the determination of alpha_s(M_tau)

The tau hadronic width provides a determination of the strong coupling constant alpha_s at low energies, since it can be related to a weighted integral of the Adler function in the complex energy plane. Using Operator Product Expansion, one sees that the sensitivity to alpha_s comes from the perturbative contribution, which can be obtained by integrating the perturbative expansion of the Adler function. Two different prescriptions proposed to perform this integral, called Fixed-Order Perturbation Theory and Contour-Improved Perturbation Theory (FOPT and CIPT), yield different results for the strong coupling constant. Recently, models for the Adler function based on renormalon calculus have been proposed to determine which of the two methods is the most accurate, by comparing the resulting asymptotic series with the true value of the integral. We discuss the assumptions of such ansatz and the determination of their free parameters. We show that variations of this renormalon ansatz can yield opposite conclusions concerning the comparison of CIPT versus FOPT, and that such models are not constrained enough to provide a definite answer on this issue or to be exploited for a high-precision determination of alpha_s(m_tau^2).Comment: 28 pages, 5 figure

Three-particle contributions to the renormalisation of B-meson light-cone distribution amplitudes

We study light-cone distribution amplitudes of heavy-light systems, such as a B-meson. By an explicit computation, we determine how two-parton distribution amplitudes mix with three-parton ones at one loop: \phi_+ is shown to mix only into itself, whereas \phi_- mixes with the difference of three-parton distribution amplitudes \Psi_A-\Psi_V. We determine the corresponding anomalous dimension and we check the gauge independence of our result by considering a general covariant gauge. Finally, we comment on some implications of our result for phenomenological models of these distribution amplitudes.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, some comments and 2 references added, except for typesetting matches version published in JHE

pi K scattering inputs to ChPT

Experimental information on low energy $\pi K$ scattering would shed light on the poorly known OZI suppressed sector of ChPT. I describe recent work aimed at generating such information based on available experimental data by setting up and then solving with appropriate boundary conditions a non linear system of equations of the Roy and Steiner type. First results of this analysis are presented.Comment: Talk given at QCD'03 conference, 2-9 July 2003, Montpellie

Dispersive evaluation of the second-class amplitude τ→ηπντ\tau\to\eta\pi\nu_\tau in the standard model

We reevaluate the two form factors relevant for the $\eta\pi$ second-class $\tau$ decay mode, making systematic use of analyticity, unitarity, combined with updated inputs to the NLO chiral constraints. We focus, in particular, on the shape of the $\rho$ resonance peak which is a background-free signature of a second-class current. Its dispersive construction requires the $\eta\pi\to\pi\pi$ scattering amplitude which we derive from a family of Khuri-Treiman equations solutions constrained with accurate recent results on the $\eta\to3\pi$ Dalitz plot.Comment: Presented at the 12th International workshop on Tau lepton physics (TAU2012) in Nagoya, Japa