19 research outputs found
The alpha_s^3 correction to Gamma (Z^0 -> hadrons)
We present the alpha_s^3 correction to the Z^0 decay rate into hadrons in the
limit m_top >> m_Z.Comment: 7pages, NIKHEF-H/93-2
The Large Quark Mass Expansion of Gamma (Z^0 -> hadrons) and Gamma(tau^- -> nu_tau + hadrons) in the Order alpha_s^3
We present the analytical correction to the decay rate
into hadrons. We calculate this correction up to (and including) terms of the
order in the large top quark mass expansion. We rely on
the technique of the large mass expansion of individual Feynman diagrams and
treat its application in detail. We convert the obtained results of six flavour
QCD to the results in the effective theory with five active flavours, checking
the decoupling relation of the QCD coupling constant. We also derive the large
charm quark mass expansion of the semihadronic lepton decay rate in the
approximation.Comment: Postscript generation repaired, The complete postscript file of this
article, including figures, is now available at
ftp://nikhefh.nikhef.nl/pub/preprints/H94-30.ps.g
Two-loop Anomalous Dimensions of Heavy Baryon Currents in Heavy Quark Effective Theory
We present results on the two-loop anomalous dimensions of the heavy baryon
HQET currents with arbitrary Dirac matrices
and . From our general result we obtain the two-loop
anomalous dimensions for currents with quantum numbers of the ground state
heavy baryons , and . As a by-product of our
calculation and as an additional check we rederive the known two-loop anomalous
dimensions of mesonic scalar, pseudoscalar, vector, axial vector and tensor
currents in massless QCD as well as in HQET.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures are included in PostScript forma
The large top quark mass expansion for Higgs boson decays into bottom quarks and into gluons
We calculate the large top quark mass expansions for the H -> bb_bar decay
rate in the order (alpha_s)^2 and for the H -> gluons decay rate in the order
(alpha_s)^3. The obtained expansions rapidly converge in the region of their
validity, M_H < 2 m_top, i.e. below the threshold of tt_bar production.Comment: 9 pages, a postscript file that includes 1 figure is available via
anonymous ftp at ftp://nikhefh.nikhef.nl/pub/preprints/95-027.ps.
Scale setting for alpha_s beyond leading order
We present a general procedure for incorporating higher-order information
into the scale-setting prescription of Brodsky, Lepage and Mackenzie. In
particular, we show how to apply this prescription when the leading coefficient
or coefficients in a series in the strong coupling alpha_s are anomalously
small and the original prescription can give an unphysical scale. We give a
general method for computing an optimum scale numerically, within dimensional
regularization, and in cases when the coefficients of a series are known. We
apply it to the heavy quark mass and energy renormalization in lattice NRQCD,
and to a variety of known series. Among the latter, we find significant
corrections to the scales for the ratio of e+e- to hadrons over muons, the
ratio of the quark pole to MSbar mass, the semi-leptonic B-meson decay width,
and the top decay width. Scales for the latter two decay widths, expressed in
terms of MSbar masses, increase by factors of five and thirteen, respectively,
substantially reducing the size of radiative corrections.Comment: 39 pages, 15 figures, 5 tables, LaTeX2
On the Behavior of the Effective QCD Coupling alpha_tau(s) at Low Scales
The hadronic decays of the tau lepton can be used to determine the effective
charge alpha_tau(m^2_tau') for a hypothetical tau-lepton with mass in the range
0 < m_tau' < m_tau. This definition provides a fundamental definition of the
QCD coupling at low mass scales. We study the behavior of alpha_tau at low mass
scales directly from first principles and without any renormalization-scheme
dependence by looking at the experimental data from the OPAL Collaboration. The
results are consistent with the freezing of the physical coupling at mass
scales s = m^2_tau' of order 1 GeV^2 with a magnitude alpha_tau ~ 0.9 +/- 0.1.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review D, added
references, some text added, no results nor figures change
The Determination of alpha_s from Tau Decays Revisited
We revisit the determination of alpha_s(m_tau) using a fit to inclusive tau
hadronic spectral moments in light of (1) the recent calculation of the
fourth-order perturbative coefficient K_4 in the expansion of the Adler
function, (2) new precision measurements from BABAR of e+e- annihilation cross
sections, which decrease the uncertainty in the separation of vector and
axial-vector spectral functions, and (3) improved results from BABAR and Belle
on tau branching fractions involving kaons. We estimate that the fourth-order
perturbative prediction reduces the theoretical uncertainty, introduced by the
truncation of the series, by 20% with respect to earlier determinations. We
discuss to some detail the perturbative prediction and show that the effect of
the incomplete knowledge of the series is reduced by using the so-called
contour-improved calculation, as opposed to fixed-order perturbation theory
which manifests convergence problems. The corresponding theoretical
uncertainties are studied at the tau and Z mass scales. Nonperturbative
contributions extracted from the most inclusive fit are small, in agreement
with earlier determinations. Systematic effects from quark-hadron duality
violation are estimated with simple models and found to be within the quoted
systematic errors. The fit gives alpha_s(m_tau) = 0.344 +- 0.005 +- 0.007,
where the first error is experimental and the second theoretical. After
evolution to M_Z we obtain alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.1212 +- 0.0005 +- 0.0008 +- 0.0005,
where the errors are respectively experimental, theoretical and due to the
evolution. The result is in agreement with the corresponding NNNLO value
derived from essentially the Z width in the global electroweak fit. The
alpha_s(M_Z) determination from tau decays is the most precise one to date.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure
Standard Model Higgs-Boson Branching Ratios with Uncertainties
We present an update of the branching ratios for Higgs-boson decays in the
Standard Model. We list results for all relevant branching ratios together with
corresponding uncertainties resulting from input parameters and missing
higher-order corrections. As sources of parametric uncertainties we include the
masses of the charm, bottom, and top quarks as well as the QCD coupling
constant. We compare our results with other predictions in the literature.Comment: 32 pages, 4 figures, contribution to LHC Higgs Cross Section Working
Group https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/LHCPhysics/CrossSections,
theoretical uncertainties for H->\mu\mu{} added, version to appear in
European Physical Journal
Genetic modulation of the response bias towards facial displays of anger and happiness
BACKGROUND:
Investigating genetic modulation of emotion processing may contribute to the understanding of heritable mechanisms of emotional disorders. The aim of the present study was to test the effects of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) val158met and serotonin-transporter-linked promoter region (5-HTTLPR) polymorphisms on facial emotion processing in healthy individuals.
METHODS:
Two hundred and seventy five (167 female) participants were asked to complete a computerized facial affect recognition task, which involved four experimental conditions, each containing one type of emotional face (fearful, angry, sad or happy) intermixed with neutral faces. Participants were asked to indicate whether the face displayed an emotion or was neutral. The COMT-val158met and 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms were genotyped.
RESULTS:
Met homozygotes (COMT) showed a stronger bias to perceive neutral faces as expressions of anger, compared with val homozygotes. However, the S-homozygotes (5-HTTLPR) showed a reduced bias to perceive neutral faces as expressions of happiness, compared to L-homozygotes. No interaction between 5-HTTLPR and COMT was found.
CONCLUSIONS:
These results add to the knowledge of individual differences in social cognition that are modulated via serotonergic and dopaminergic systems. This potentially could contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of susceptibility to emotional disorders