Pi pi scattering lengths at O(p^6) revisited

This article completes a former work where part of the O(p^6) low-energy constants entering in the pi pi scattering were estimated. Some resonance contributions were missed in former calculations and slight differences appeared with respect to our outcome. Here, we provide the full results for all the contributing O(p^6) couplings. We also perform a reanalysis of the hadronic inputs used for the estimation (resonance masses, widths...). Their reliability was checked together with the impact of the input uncertainties on the determinations of the chiral couplings and the scattering lengths a^I_J. Our outcome is found in agreement with former works though with slightly larger errors. However, the effect in the final values of the a^I_J is negligible after combining them with the other uncertainties. Based on this consistency, we conclude that the previous scattering length determinations seem to be rather solid and reliable, with the cO(p^6) low-energy constants quite under control. Nevertheless, the uncertainties found in the present work point out the limitation on further improvements unless the precision of the O(p^6) couplings is properly increased.Comment: 19 pages. Improved treatment of the a0 decay width and update of the numerical outcomes. Final version published in Phys. Rev. D (10.1103/PhysRevD.79.096006

Radiative and leptonic decays of the pseudoscalar charmonium state ηc\eta_c

The radiative and leptonic decays of $\eta_c\to \gamma\gamma$ and $\eta_c\to l^+l^-$ are studied. For $\eta_c\to \gamma\gamma$ decay, the second-order electromagnetic tree-level diagram gives the leading contribution. The decay rate of $\eta_c\to \gamma\gamma$ is calculated, the prediction is in good agreement with the experimental data. For \eta_c\to l^+\l^-, both the tree and loop diagrams are calculated. The analysis shows that the loop contribution dominates, the contribution of tree diagram with $Z^0$ intermediate state can only modifies the decay rate by less than 1%. The prediction of the branching ratios of $\eta_c\to e^+e^-$ and $\mu^+\mu^-$ are very tiny within the standard model. The smallness of these predictions within the standard model makes the leptonic decays of $\eta_c$ sensitive to physics beyond the standard model. Measurement of the leptonic decay may give information of new physics.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, RevTex, small change, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Rapid formation of black holes in galaxies: a self-limiting growth mechanism

We present high-quality fluid dynamical simulations of isothermal gas flows in a rotating barred potential. We show that a large quantity of gas is driven right into the nucleus of a model galaxy when the potential lacks a central mass concentration, but the inflow stalls at a nuclear ring in comparison simulations that include a central massive object. The radius of the nuclear gas ring increases linearly with the mass of the central object. We argue that bars drive gas right into the nucleus in the early stages of disk galaxy formation, where a nuclear star cluster and perhaps a massive black hole could be created. The process is self-limiting, however, because inflow stalls at a nuclear ring once the mass of gas and stars in the nucleus exceeds ~1% of the disk mass, which shuts off rapid growth of the black hole. We briefly discuss the relevance of these results to the seeding of massive black holes in galaxies, the merger model for quasar evolution, and the existence of massive black holes in disk galaxies that lack a significant classical bulge.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, accepted to appear in Ap

The global stability of M33: still a puzzle

The inner disc of the local group galaxy M33 appears to be in settled rotational balance, and near IR images reveal a mild, large-scale, two-arm spiral pattern with no strong bar. We have constructed N-body models that match all the extensive observational data on the kinematics and surface density of stars and gas in the inner part of M33. We find that currently favoured models are unstable to the formation of a strong bar of semi-major axis 2 < a_B < 3 kpc within 1 Gyr, which changes the dynamical properties of the models to become inconsistent with the current, apparently well-settled, state. The formation of a bar is unaffected by how the gas component is modelled, by increasing the mass of the nuclear star cluster, or by making the dark matter halo counter-rotate, but it can be prevented by either reducing the mass-to-light ratio of the stars to Upsilon_V ~ 0.6 or Upsilon_K ~ 0.23 in solar units or by increasing the random motions of the stars. Also a shorter and weaker bar results when the halo is rigid and unresponsive. However, all three near-stable models support multi-arm spirals, and not the observed large-scale bi-symmetric spiral. A two-arm spiral pattern could perhaps be tidally induced, but such a model would require an implausibly low mass disc to avoid a bar and there is no visible culprit. Thus the survival of the current state of this exceptionally well-studied galaxy is not yet understood. We also suspect that many other unbarred galaxies present a similar puzzle.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, to appear in MNRAS. A nymber of revisions from v