Meson-Baryon s-wave Resonances with Strangeness -3

Starting from a consistent SU(6) extension of the Weinberg-Tomozawa (WT) meson-baryon chiral Lagrangian (Phys. Rev. D74 (2006) 034025), we study the s-wave meson-baryon resonances in the strangeness S=-3 and negative parity sector. Those resonances are generated by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation with the WT interaction used as kernel. The considered mesons are those of the 35-SU(6)-plet, which includes the pseudoscalar (PS) octet of pions and the vector (V) nonet of the rho meson. For baryons we consider the 56-SU(6)-plet, made of the 1/2+ octet of the nucleon and the 3/2+ decuplet of the Delta. Quantum numbers I(J^P)=0(3/2^-) are suggested for the experimental resonances Omega*(2250)- and Omega*(2380)-. Among other, resonances with I=1 are found, with minimal quark content sss\bar{l}l', being s the strange quark and l, l' any of the the light up or down quarks. A clear signal for such a pentaquark would be a baryonic resonance with strangeness -3 and electric charge of -2 or 0, in proton charge units. We suggest looking for K- Xi- resonances with masses around 2100 and 2240 MeV in the sector 1(1/2^-), and for pi Omega- and K- Xi*- resonances with masses around 2260 MeV in the sector 1(3/2^-).Comment: 3 pages, 1 Postscript figure, 7 table

SU(6)⊃\supsetSU(3)xSU(2) and SU(8)⊃\supsetSU(4)xSU(2) Clebsch-Gordan coefficients

Tables of scalar factors are presented for 63x63 and 120x63 in SU(8)$\supset$SU(4)xSU(2), and for 35x35 and 56x35 in SU(6)$\supset$SU(3)xSU(2). Related tables for SU(4)$\supset$SU(3)xU(1) and SU(3)$\supset$SU(2)xU(1) are also provided so that the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients can be completely reconstructed. These are suitable to study meson-meson and baryon-meson within a spin-flavor symmetric scheme.Comment: 30 pages, mostly table

Leptonic CP violating effective action for Dirac and Majorana neutrinos

In the Standard Model minimally extended to include massive neutrinos, we compute the leading CP-violating zero temperature contributions to the one-loop effective action induced by integration of the leptons. Such contributions start at operators of dimension six and they are P even for Dirac neutrinos and P even or odd for Majorana neutrinos. Dimension four operators are allowed in the mixed Dirac-Majorana case. It is verified by explicit calculation that CP can be violated in two generation settings for Majorana neutrinos. Using different neutrino scenarios we give upper bounds for the couplings of the CP-violating operators. As a rule, we find that lepton-induced couplings are suppressed as compared to quark-induced couplings, whenever the latter are allowed, nevertheless, through virtual lepton-number violating mechanisms, Majorana neutrinos induce new CP-violating operators not present in the quark or Dirac-neutrino cases.Comment: 47 pages, 4 figure

Large Nc Weinberg-Tomozawa interaction and negative parity s--wave baryon resonances

It is shown that in the 70 and 700 SU(6) irreducible spaces, the SU(6) extension of the Weinberg-Tomozawa (WT) s-wave meson-baryon interaction incorporating vector mesons ({\it hep-ph/0505233}) scales as ${\cal O}(N_c^0)$, instead of the well known ${\cal O}(N_c^{-1})$ behavior for its SU(3) counterpart. However, the WT interaction behaves as order ${\cal O}(N_c^{-1})$ within the 56 and 1134 meson-baryon spaces. Explicit expressions for the WT couplings (eigenvalues) in the irreducible SU(2$N_F$) spaces, for arbitrary $N_F$ and $N_c$, are given. This extended interaction is used as a kernel of the Bethe-Salpeter equation, to study the large $N_c$ scaling of masses and widths of the lowest--lying negative parity s-wave baryon resonances. Analytical expressions are found in the $N_c\to \infty$ limit, from which it can be deduced that resonance widths and excitation energies $(M_R-M)$ behave as order ${\cal O} (N^0_c)$, in agreement with model independent arguments, and moreover they fall in the 70-plet, as expected in constituent quark models for an orbital excitation. For the 56 and 1134 spaces, excitation energies and widths grow ${\cal O} (N_c^{1/2})$ indicating that such resonances do not survive in the large $N_c$ limit. The relation of this latter $N_c$ behavior with the existence of exotic components in these resonances is discussed. The interaction comes out repulsive in the 700.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, requires wick.sty and young.sty. Subsection added. Conclusions revised. To appear in Physical Review

Non-localities and Fermi motion corrections in K−K^- atoms

We evaluate the p-wave $K^-N$ amplitudes from the chiral Lagrangians and from there construct the p-wave part of the $K^-$ nucleus optical potential plus a small s-wave part induced from the elementary p-wave amplitude and the nuclear Fermi motion. Simultaneously, the momentum and energy dependence of the s-wave optical potential, previously developed, are taken into account and shown to generate a small p-wave correction to the optical potential. All the corrections considered are small compared to the leading s-wave potential, and lead to changes in the shifts and widths which are smaller than the experimental errors. A thorough study of the threshold region and low densities is conducted, revealing mathematical problems for which a physical solution is given.Comment: revised version, 28 pages, Latex, 8 postscript figures. Submitted to Nucl. Phys.

CCharPPI web server: computational characterization of protein–protein interactions from structure

The atomic structures of protein–protein interactions are central to understanding their role in biological systems, and a wide variety of biophysical functions and potentials have been developed for their characterization and the construction of predictive models. These tools are scattered across a multitude of stand-alone programs, and are often available only as model parameters requiring reimplementation. This acts as a significant barrier to their widespread adoption. CCharPPI integrates many of these tools into a single web server. It calculates up to 108 parameters, including models of electrostatics, desolvation and hydrogen bonding, as well as interface packing and complementarity scores, empirical potentials at various resolutions, docking potentials and composite scoring functions.The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007- 2013) under REA grant agreement PIEF-GA-2012-327899 and grant BIO2013-48213-R from Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

D mesic nuclei

The energies and widths of several D^0 meson bound states for different nuclei are obtained using a D-meson selfenergy in the nuclear medium, which is evaluated in a selfconsistent manner using techniques of unitarized coupled-channel theory. The kernel of the meson-baryon interaction is based on a model that treats heavy pseudoscalar and heavy vector mesons on equal footing, as required by heavy quark symmetry. We find D^0 bound states in all studied nuclei, from 12C up to 208Pb. The inclusion of vector mesons is the keystone for obtaining an attractive D-nucleus interaction that leads to the existence of D^0-nucleus bound states, as compared to previous studies based on SU(4) flavor symmetry. In some cases, the half widths are smaller than the separation of the levels, what makes possible their experimental observation by means of a nuclear reaction. This can be of particular interest for the future PANDA@FAIR physics program. We also find a D^+ bound state in 12C, but it is too broad and will have a significant overlap with the energies of the continuum.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

Biological and Pharmacological aspects of the NK1-Receptor.

The neurokinin 1 receptor (NK-1R) is the main receptor for the tachykinin family of peptides. Substance P (SP) is the major mammalian ligand and the one with the highest affinity. SP is associated with multiple processes: hematopoiesis, wound healing, microvasculature permeability, neurogenic inflammation, leukocyte trafficking, and cell survival. It is also considered a mitogen, and it has been associated with tumorigenesis and metastasis. Tachykinins and their receptors are widely expressed in various human systems such as the nervous, cardiovascular, genitourinary, and immune system. Particularly, NK-1R is found in the nervous system and in peripheral tissues and are involved in cellular responses such as pain transmission, endocrine and paracrine secretion, vasodilation, and modulation of cell proliferation. It also acts as a neuromodulator contributing to brain homeostasis and to sensory neuronal transmission associated with depression, stress, anxiety, and emesis. NK-1R and SP are present in brain regions involved in the vomiting reflex (the nucleus tractus solitarius and the area postrema). This anatomical localization has led to the successful clinical development of antagonists against NK-1R in the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV). The first of these antagonists, aprepitant (oral administration) and fosaprepitant (intravenous administration), are prescribed for high and moderate emesis