A consistent picture for large penguins in D -> pi+ pi-, K+ K-

A long-standing puzzle in charm physics is the large difference between the D0 -> K+ K- and D0 -> pi+ pi- decay rates. Recently, the LHCb and CDF collaborations reported a surprisingly large difference between the direct CP asymmetries, Delta A_CP, in these two modes. We show that the two puzzles are naturally related in the Standard Model via s- and d-quark "penguin contractions". Their sum gives rise to Delta A_CP, while their difference contributes to the two branching ratios with opposite sign. Assuming nominal SU(3) breaking, a U-spin fit to the D0 -> K+ pi-, pi+ K-, pi+ pi-, K+ K- decay rates yields large penguin contractions that naturally explain Delta A_CP. Expectations for the individual CP asymmetries are also discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure

The UTfit Collaboration Average of D meson mixing data: Spring 2012

We derive constraints on the parameters $M_{12}$, $\Gamma_{12}$ and $\Phi_{12}$ that describe $D$ meson mixing using all available data, allowing for CP violation. We also provide posterior distributions and predictions for observable parameters appearing in $D$ physics.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Animal board invited review: advances in proteomics for animal and food sciences

Animal production and health (APH) is an important sector in the world economy, representing a large proportion of the budget of all member states in the European Union and in other continents. APH is a highly competitive sector with a strong emphasis on innovation and, albeit with country to country variations, on scientific research. Proteomics (the study of all proteins present in a given tissue or fluid - i.e. the proteome) has an enormous potential when applied to APH. Nevertheless, for a variety of reasons and in contrast to disciplines such as plant sciences or human biomedicine, such potential is only now being tapped. To counter such limited usage, 6 years ago we created a consortium dedicated to the applications of Proteomics to APH, specifically in the form of a Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action, termed FA1002 - Proteomics in Farm Animals: www.cost-faproteomics.org. In 4 years, the consortium quickly enlarged to a total of 31 countries in Europe, as well as Israel, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. This article has a triple purpose. First, we aim to provide clear examples on the applications and benefits of the use of proteomics in all aspects related to APH. Second, we provide insights and possibilities on the new trends and objectives for APH proteomics applications and technologies for the years to come. Finally, we provide an overview and balance of the major activities and accomplishments of the COST Action on Farm Animal Proteomics. These include activities such as the organization of seminars, workshops and major scientific conferences, organization of summer schools, financing Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) and the generation of scientific literature. Overall, the Action has attained all of the proposed objectives and has made considerable difference by putting proteomics on the global map for animal and veterinary researchers in general and by contributing significantly to reduce the East-West and North-South gaps existing in the European farm animal research. Future activities of significance in the field of scientific research, involving members of the action, as well as others, will likely be established in the future.European Science Foundation (Brussels, Belgium)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Charming CP Violation and Dipole Operators from RS Flavor Anarchy

Recently the LHCb collaboration reported evidence for direct CP violation in charm decays. The value is sufficiently large that either substantially enhanced Standard Model contributions or non-Standard Model physics is required to explain it. In the latter case only a limited number of possibilities would be consistent with other existing flavor-changing constraints. We show that warped extra dimensional models that explain the quark spectrum through flavor anarchy can naturally give rise to contributions of the size required to explain the the LHCb result. The D meson asymmetry arises through a sizable CP-violating contribution to a chromomagnetic dipole operator. This happens naturally without introducing inconsistencies with existing constraints in the up quark sector. We discuss some subtleties in the loop calculation that are similar to those in Higgs to \gamma\gamma. Loop-induced dipole operators in warped scenarios and their composite analogs exhibit non-trivial dependence on the Higgs profile, with the contributions monotonically decreasing when the Higgs is pushed away from the IR brane. We show that the size of the dipole operator quickly saturates as the Higgs profile approaches the IR brane, implying small dependence on the precise details of the Higgs profile when it is quasi IR localized. We also explain why the calculation of the coefficient of the lowest dimension 5D operator is guaranteed to be finite. This is true not only in the charm sector but also with other radiative processes such as electric dipole moments, b to s\gamma, \epsilon'/\epsilon_K and \mu\ to e\gamma. We furthermore discuss the interpretation of this contribution within the framework of partial compositeness in four dimensions and highlight some qualitative differences between the generic result of composite models and that obtained for dynamics that reproduces the warped scenario.Comment: 14 page

Direct CP violation in charm and flavor mixing beyond the SM

We analyze possible interpretations of the recent LHCb evidence for CP violation in D meson decays in terms of physics beyond the Standard Model. On general grounds, models in which the primary source of flavor violation is linked to the breaking of chiral symmetry (left-right flavor mixing) are natural candidates to explain this effect, via enhanced chromomagnetic operators. In the case of supersymmetric models, we identify two motivated scenarios: disoriented A-terms and split families. These structures predict other non-standard signals, such as nuclear EDMs close to their present bounds and, possibly, tiny but visible deviations in K and B physics, or even sizable flavor-violating processes involving the top quark or the stops. Some of these connections, especially the one with nuclear EDMs, hold beyond supersymmetry, as illustrated with the help of prototype non-supersymmetric models.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figure

Aging Studies for the Large Honeycomb Drift Tube System of the Outer Tracker of HERA-B

The HERA-B Outer Tracker consists of drift tubes folded from polycarbonate foil and is operated with Ar/CF4/CO2 as drift gas. The detector has to stand radiation levels which are similar to LHC conditions. The first prototypes exposed to radiation in HERA-B suffered severe radiation damage due to the development of self-sustaining currents (Malter effect). In a subsequent extended R&D program major changes to the original concept for the drift tubes (surface conductivity, drift gas, production materials) have been developed and validated for use in harsh radiation environments. In the test program various aging effects (like Malter currents, gain loss due to anode aging and etching of the anode gold surface) have been observed and cures by tuning of operation parameters have been developed.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of the International Workshop On Aging Phenomena In Gaseous Detectors, 2-5 Oct 2001, Hamburg, German

Democratized image analytics by visual programming through integration of deep models and small-scale machine learning

Analysis of biomedical images requires computational expertize that are uncommon among biomedical scientists. Deep learning approaches for image analysis provide an opportunity to develop user-friendly tools for exploratory data analysis. Here, we use the visual programming toolbox Orange (http://orange.biolab.si) to simplify image analysis by integrating deep-learning embedding, machine learning procedures, and data visualization. Orange supports the construction of data analysis workflows by assembling components for data preprocessing, visualization, and modeling. We equipped Orange with components that use pre-trained deep convolutional networks to profile images with vectors of features. These vectors are used in image clustering and classification in a framework that enables mining of image sets for both novel and experienced users. We demonstrate the utility of the tool in image analysis of progenitor cells in mouse bone healing, identification of developmental competence in mouse oocytes, subcellular protein localization in yeast, and developmental morphology of social amoebae

Evidence for Direct CP Violation in B±→ηh±B^\pm \to \eta h^\pm and Observation of B0→ηK0B^0 \to \eta K^0

We report measurements of the branching fractions and CP asymmetries for B^+- -> eta h^+- (h = K or pi) and the observation of the decay B^0 -> eta K^0 from the final data sample of 772x10^6 BBbar pairs collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e^+e^- collider. The measured branching fractions are Br(B^+- -> eta K^+-) = (2.12 +- 0.23 +- 0.11)x10^-6}, Br(B^+- -> eta pi^+-) = (4.07 +- 0.26 +- 0.21)x10^{-6} and Br(B^0 -> eta K^0) = (1.27^{+0.33}_{-0.29} +- 0.08)x10^-6, where the last decay is observed for the first time with a significance of 5.4 standard deviations (\sigma). We also find evidence for CP violation in the charged B modes, A_{CP}(B^+- -> eta K^+-) = -0.38 +- 0.11 +- 0.01 and A_{CP}(B^+- -> eta pi^+- = -0.19 +- 0.06 +- 0.01 with significances of 3.8 sigma and 3.0 sigma, respectively. For all measurements, the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Evidence for a new resonance and search for the Y(4140) in γγ→ϕJ/ψ\gamma \gamma \to \phi J/\psi

The process \gamma \gamma \to \phi \jpsi is measured for \phi \jpsi masses between threshold and 5 GeV/${\it c}^2$, using a data sample of 825 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the Belle detector. A narrow peak of $8.8^{+4.2}_{-3.2}$ events, with a significance of 3.2 standard deviations including systematic uncertainty, is observed. The mass and natural width of the structure (named X(4350)) are measured to be $(4350.6^{+4.6}_{-5.1}(\rm{stat})\pm 0.7(\rm{syst})) \hbox{MeV}/{\it c}^2$ and $(13^{+18}_{-9}(\rm{stat})\pm 4(\rm{syst})) \hbox{MeV}$, respectively. The product of its two-photon decay width and branching fraction to \phi\jpsi is $(6.7^{+3.2}_{-2.4}(\rm{stat}) \pm 1.1(\rm{syst})) \hbox{eV}$ for $J^P=0^+$, or $(1.5^{+0.7}_{-0.6}(\rm{stat}) \pm 0.3(\rm{syst})) \hbox{eV}$ for $J^P=2^+$. No signal for the Y(4140)\to \phi \jpsi structure reported by the CDF Collaboration in B\to K^+ \phi \jpsi decays is observed, and limits of \Gamma_{\gamma \gamma}(Y(4140)) \BR(Y(4140)\to\phi \jpsi)<41 \hbox{eV} for $J^P=0^+$ or $<6.0 \hbox{eV}$ for $J^P=2^+$ are determined at the 90% C.L. This disfavors the scenario in which the Y(4140) is a $D_{s}^{\ast+} {D}_{s}^{\ast-}$ molecule.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 112004, 201