Are the production and decay of a resonance always independent?

The widely accepted assumption that the decay of a resonance proceeds independently of its production, quantitatively expressed as a factorizing formula for the differential cross section in the invariant mass of unpolarized resonance debris, is put under scrutiny. It is shown that the factorization is always valid for scalar and pseudoscalar resonances, although the usual version of the formula is not entirely correct. For resonances with nonzero spins the factorization does not generally take place. We deal in more detail with the spin-one case, where we show a condition on the decay matrix element that ensures the validity of the same factorizing formula as in the spinless case. This condition is satisfied for rho --> pi pi but not, e.g., for K* --> pi K or a1 --> pi rho. The formalism is applied also to the case when the resonance is produced not in two-body collisions but in the decay of a heavier particle or resonance (chain decay). Application of our formulas to the e+e- production in one-photon approximation agrees with what is known from quantum electrodynamics and thus provides another test of their soundness

What to learn from dilepton transverse momentum spectra in heavy-ion collisions?

Recently the NA60 collaboration has presented high precision measurements of dimuon spectra double differential in invariant mass $M$ and transverse pair momentum $p_T$ in In-In collisions at $158 {\rm AGeV}$. While the $M$-dependence is important for an understanding of in-medium changes of light vector mesons and is $p_T$ integrated insensitive to collective expansion, the $p_T$-dependence arises from an interplay between emission temperature and collective transverse flow. This fact can be exploited to derive constraints on the evolution model and in particular on the contributions of different phases of the evolution to dimuon radiation into a given $M$ window. We present arguments that a thermalized evolution phase with $T > 170 {\rm MeV}$ leaves its imprint on the spectra.Comment: Contributed to 19th International Conference on Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions: Quark Matter 2006 (QM 2006), Shanghai, China, 14- 20 Nov 200

Universal factorized formula for the cross-section of two-particle scattering

We analyze the process of two-particle scattering with unstable particle in an intermediate state. It was shown that the cross-section can be represented in the universal factorized form for an arbitrary set of particles. Phenomenological analysis of factorization effect is fulfilled.Comment: 8 pages, corrected typos. change conten

Updated constraints on new physics in rare charm decays

Motivated by recent experimental results on charm physics we investigate implications of the updated constraints of new physics in rare charm meson decays. We first reconsider effects of the MSSM in $c\to u \gamma$ constrained by the recent experimental evidence on $\Delta m_D$ and find, that due to the dominance of long distance physics, $D \to V \gamma$ decay rates cannot be modified by MSSM contributions. Then we consider effects of the extra heavy up vector-like quark models on the decay spectrum of $D^+ \to \pi^+ l^+ l^-$ and $D_s^+ \to K^+ l^+ l^-$ decays. We find a possibility for the tiny increase of the differential decay rate in the region of large dilepton mass. The R-parity violating supersymmetric model can also modify short distance dynamics in $c \to u l^+ l^-$ decays. We constrain relevant parameters using current upper bound on the $D^+ \to \pi^+ l^+ l^-$ decay rate and investigate impact of that constraint on the $D_s^+ \to K^+ l^+ l^-$ differential decay dilepton distribution. Present bounds still allow small modification of the standard model differential decay rate distribution.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Effects of Littlest Higgs model in rare D meson decays

A tree-level flavor changing neutral current in the up-like quark sector appears in one of the variations of the Littlest Higgs model. We investigate the effects of this coupling in the D+ -> pi+ l+ l- and D0 -> rho0 l+ l- decays, which are the most appropriate candidates for the experimental studies. However, the effects are found to be too small to be observed in the current and the foreseen experimental facilities. These decays are still dominated by the standard model long-distance contributions, which are reevaluated based on the new experimental input.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures; new constraint on scale f taken into account and effects on charm meson decays recalculate

Running mass of the rho0 meson's implication for the dilepton mass spectrum and the mu+mu-/e+e- branching ratio in the K+ --> pi+l+l- decays

We make an attempt to resolve the discrepancy of the observed e+e- mass spectrum in the K+ --> pi+e+e- decay with that predicted by meson dominance. To this end we investigate the properties of the rho0 propagator. We use dispersion relations to evaluate the running mass squared m_rho^2(t) of the rho0 resonance without adjustable parameters. To improve the convergence of the dispersion integral, the momentum dependence of strong vertices is taken from the flux-tube-breaking model of Kokoski and Isgur. The obtained behavior of m_rho^2(t) at small momentum squared t makes the K+ --> pi+e+e- form factor rise faster with increasing $t$ than in the original meson-dominance calculation and more in agreement with the published data. As a consequence, the meson-dominance prediction of the mu+mu-/e+e- branching ratio changes slightly, from 0.224 to 0.236. We do not see any possibility to accommodate into the meson-dominance approach an even steeper e+e- spectrum, indicated by the preliminary data of the E865 collaboration at BNL AGS.Comment: 13 pages, RevTeX, epsf.sty, 4 embedded figure