A new CP violating observable for the LHC

We study a new type of CP violating observable that arises in three body decays that are dominated by an intermediate resonance. If two interfering diagrams exist with different orderings of final state particles, the required CP-even phase arises due to the different virtualities of the resonance in each of the two diagrams. This method can be an important tool for accessing new CP phases at the LHC and future colliders.Comment: 22 pages, v2: discussion of charged particle decays and a few references added v3: typos corrected, matches published versio

Phenomenological Consequences of sub-leading Terms in See-Saw Formulas

Several aspects of next-to-leading (NLO) order corrections to see-saw formulas are discussed and phenomenologically relevant situations are identified. We generalize the formalism to calculate the NLO terms developed for the type I see-saw to variants like the inverse, double or linear see-saw, i.e., to cases in which more than two mass scales are present. In the standard type I case with very heavy fermion singlets the sub-leading terms are negligible. However, effects in the percent regime are possible when sub-matrices of the complete neutral fermion mass matrix obey a moderate hierarchy, e.g. weak scale and TeV scale. Examples are cancellations of large terms leading to small neutrino masses, or inverse see-saw scenarios. We furthermore identify situations in which no NLO corrections to certain observables arise, namely for mu-tau symmetry and cases with a vanishing neutrino mass. Finally, we emphasize that the unavoidable unitarity violation in see-saw scenarios with extra fermions can be calculated with the formalism in a straightforward manner.Comment: 22 pages, matches published versio

Feynman Rules for the Rational Part of the Standard Model One-loop Amplitudes in the 't Hooft-Veltman γ5\gamma_5 Scheme

We study Feynman rules for the rational part $R$ of the Standard Model amplitudes at one-loop level in the 't Hooft-Veltman $\gamma_5$ scheme. Comparing our results for quantum chromodynamics and electroweak 1-loop amplitudes with that obtained based on the Kreimer-Korner-Schilcher (KKS) $\gamma_5$ scheme, we find the latter result can be recovered when our $\gamma_5$ scheme becomes identical (by setting $g5s=1$ in our expressions) with the KKS scheme. As an independent check, we also calculate Feynman rules obtained in the KKS scheme, finding our results in complete agreement with formulae presented in the literature. Our results, which are studied in two different $\gamma_5$ schemes, may be useful for clarifying the $\gamma_5$ problem in dimensional regularization. They are helpful to eliminate or find ambiguities arising from different dimensional regularization schemes.Comment: Version published in JHEP, presentation improved, 41 pages, 10 figure

The Minimal Scale Invariant Extension of the Standard Model

We perform a systematic analysis of an extension of the Standard Model that includes a complex singlet scalar field and is scale invariant at the tree level. We call such a model the Minimal Scale Invariant extension of the Standard Model (MSISM). The tree-level scale invariance of the model is explicitly broken by quantum corrections, which can trigger electroweak symmetry breaking and potentially provide a mechanism for solving the gauge hierarchy problem. Even though the scale invariant Standard Model is not a realistic scenario, the addition of a complex singlet scalar field may result in a perturbative and phenomenologically viable theory. We present a complete classification of the flat directions which may occur in the classical scalar potential of the MSISM. After calculating the one-loop effective potential of the MSISM, we investigate a number of representative scenarios and determine their scalar boson mass spectra, as well as their perturbatively allowed parameter space compatible with electroweak precision data. We discuss the phenomenological implications of these scenarios, in particular, whether they realize explicit or spontaneous CP violation, neutrino masses or provide dark matter candidates. In particular, we find a new minimal scale-invariant model of maximal spontaneous CP violation which can stay perturbative up to Planck-mass energy scales, without introducing an unnaturally large hierarchy in the scalar-potential couplings.Comment: 71 pages, 34 eps figures, numerical error corrected, clarifying comments adde

RG-improved single-particle inclusive cross sections and forward-backward asymmetry in ttˉt\bar t production at hadron colliders

We use techniques from soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) to derive renormalization-group improved predictions for single-particle inclusive (1PI) observables in top-quark pair production at hadron colliders. In particular, we study the top-quark transverse-momentum and rapidity distributions, the forward-backward asymmetry at the Tevatron, and the total cross section at NLO+NNLL order in resummed perturbation theory and at approximate NNLO in fixed order. We also perform a detailed analysis of power corrections to the leading terms in the threshold expansion of the partonic hard-scattering kernels. We conclude that, although the threshold expansion in 1PI kinematics is susceptible to numerically significant power corrections, its predictions for the total cross section are in good agreement with those obtained by integrating the top-pair invariant-mass distribution in pair invariant-mass kinematics, as long as a certain set of subleading terms appearing naturally within the SCET formalism is included.Comment: 55 pages, 14 figures, 6 table

The NLO QCD Corrections to BcB_c Meson Production in Z0Z^0 Decays

The decay width of $Z^0$ to $B_c$ meson is evaluated at the next-to-leading order(NLO) accuracy in strong interaction. Numerical calculation shows that the NLO correction to this process is remarkable. The quantum chromodynamics(QCD)renormalization scale dependence of the results is obviously depressed, and hence the uncertainties lying in the leading order calculation are reduced.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures; references added; expressions and typos ammende

O(αsv2)O(\alpha_s v^2) correction to pseudoscalar quarkonium decay to two photons

We investigate the $O(\alpha_s v^2)$ correction to the process of pseudoscalar quarkonium decay to two photons in nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD) factorization framework. The short-distance coefficient associated with the relative-order $v^2$ NRQCD matrix element is determined to next-to-leading order in $\alpha_s$ through the perturbative matching procedure. Some technical subtleties encountered in calculating the {O(\alpha_s) QCD amplitude are thoroughly addressed.Comment: v2, 28 pages, 2 figures and 2 tables, matching the published version; typos corrected, references added, as well as a "Note added in the proof

Environmental Temperature Affects Prevalence of Blood Parasites of Birds on an Elevation Gradient: Implications for Disease in a Warming Climate

Background: The rising global temperature is predicted to expand the distribution of vector-borne diseases both in latitude and altitude. Many host communities could be affected by increased prevalence of disease, heightening the risk of extinction for many already threatened species. To understand how host communities could be affected by changing parasite distributions, we need information on the distribution of parasites in relation to variables like temperature and rainfall that are predicted to be affected by climate change.\ud \ud Methodology/Principal Findings: We determined relations between prevalence of blood parasites, temperature, and seasonal rainfall in a bird community of the Australian Wet Tropics along an elevation gradient. We used PCR screening to investigate the prevalence and lineage diversity of four genera of blood parasites (Plasmodium, Haemoproteus, Leucocytozoon and Trypanosoma) in 403 birds. The overall prevalence of the four genera of blood parasites was 32.3%, with Haemoproteus the predominant genus. A total of 48 unique lineages were detected. Independent of elevation, parasite prevalence was positively and strongly associated with annual temperature. Parasite prevalence was elevated during the dry season.\ud \ud Conclusions/Significance: Low temperatures of the higher elevations can help to reduce both the development of avian haematozoa and the abundance of parasite vectors, and hence parasite prevalence. In contrast, high temperatures of the lowland areas provide an excellent environment for the development and transmission of haematozoa. We showed that rising temperatures are likely to lead to increased prevalence of parasites in birds, and may force shifts of bird distribution to higher elevations. We found that upland tropical areas are currently a low-disease habitat and their conservation should be given high priority in management plans under climate change