pi-pi and pi-K scatterings in three-flavour resummed chiral perturbation theory

The (light but not-so-light) strange quark may play a special role in the low-energy dynamics of QCD. The presence of strange quark pairs in the sea may have a significant impact of the pattern of chiral symmetry breaking : in particular large differences can occur between the chiral limits of two and three massless flavours (i.e., whether m_s is kept at its physical value or sent to zero). This may induce problems of convergence in three-flavour chiral expansions. To cope with such difficulties, we introduce a new framework, called Resummed Chiral Perturbation Theory. We exploit it to analyse pi-pi and pi-K scatterings and match them with dispersive results in a frequentist framework. Constraints on three-flavour chiral order parameters are derived.Comment: Proceedings of the EPS-HEP 2007 Conference, Manchester (UK). 3 pages, 1 figur

QCD factorisation and flavour symmetries illustrated in B_d,s -> KK decays

We present a new analysis of B_d,s -> KK modes within the SM, relating them in a controlled way through SU(3)-flavour symmetry and QCD-improved factorisation. We propose a set of sum rules for B_d,s -> K^0 \bar K^0 observables. We determine B_s -> KK branching ratios and CP-asymmetries as functions of A_dir(B_d -> K^0 \bar K^0), with a good agreement with current experimental measurements of CDF. Finally, we predict the amount of U-spin breaking between B_d -> pi+ pi- and B_s -> K+K-.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Talk given at the 4th International Workshop on the CKM Unitarity Triangle (CKM2006), 12-16 December 2006, Nagoya, Japan, to appear in the proceedings (KEK Report

The role of strange sea quarks in chiral extrapolations on the lattice

Since the strange quark has a light mass of order Lambda_QCD, fluctuations of sea s-s bar pairs may play a special role in the low-energy dynamics of QCD by inducing significantly different patterns of chiral symmetry breaking in the chiral limits N_f=2 (m_u=m_d=0, m_s physical) and N_f=3 (m_u=m_d=m_s=0). This effect of vacuum fluctuations of s-s bar pairs is related to the violation of the Zweig rule in the scalar sector, described through the two O(p^4) low-energy constants L_4 and L_6 of the three-flavour strong chiral lagrangian. In the case of significant vacuum fluctuations, three-flavour chiral expansions might exhibit a numerical competition between leading- and next-to-leading-order terms according to the chiral counting, and chiral extrapolations should be handled with a special care. We investigate the impact of the fluctuations of s-s bar pairs on chiral extrapolations in the case of lattice simulations with three dynamical flavours in the isospin limit. Information on the size of the vacuum fluctuations can be obtained from the dependence of the masses and decay constants of pions and kaons on the light quark masses. Even in the case of large fluctuations, corrections due to the finite size of spatial dimensions can be kept under control for large enough boxes (L around 2.5 fm).Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures. A few comments added and typos correcte

How far can you go ? Surprises and pitfalls in three-flavour chiral extrapolations

The presence of strange sea quark pairs may have a significant impact of the pattern of chiral symmetry breaking : in particular large differences can occur between the chiral limits of two and three massless flavours (i.e., whether $m_s$ is kept at its physical value or sent to zero). We recall some indications of such a scenario in QCD, in relation with the peculiar dynamics of the scalar sector. We explain how this could affect the convergence of three-flavour chiral series, commonly used to extrapolate the results of lattice simulations. Finally, we indicate how lattice simulations with three dynamical flavours could unveil such an effect through the quark-mass dependence of light meson masses and decay constants.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Presented at the XXV International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 30 - August 4 2007, Regensburg, German

Low-energy pi-pi and pi-K scatterings revisited in three-flavour resummed chiral perturbation theory

Chiral symmetry breaking may exhibit significantly different patterns in two chiral limits: N_f=2 massless flavours (m_u=m_d=0, m_s physical) and N_f=3 massless flavours (m_u=m_d=0=m_s=0). Such a difference may arise due to vacuum fluctuations of s-bar{s} pairs related to the violation of the Zweig rule in the scalar sector, and could yield a numerical competition between contributions counted as leading order and next-to-leading in the chiral expansions of observables. We recall and extend Resummed Chiral Perturbation Theory (ReChPT), a framework that we introduced previously to deal with such instabilities: it requires a more careful definition of the relevant observables and their one-loop chiral expansions. We analyse the amplitudes for low-energy pi-pi and pi-K scatterings within ReChPT, which we match in subthreshold regions with dispersive representations obtained from the solutions Roy and Roy-Steiner equations. Using a frequentist approach, we constrain the quark mass ratio as well as the quark condensate and the pseudoscalar decay constant in the N_f=3 chiral limit. The results favour significant contributions of vacuum fluctuations suppressing the N_f=3 quark condensate compared to its N_f=2 counterpart

Renormalization of B-meson distribution amplitudes

We summarize a recent calculation of the evolution kernels of the two-particle B-meson distribution amplitudes $\phi_+$ and $\phi_-$ taking into account three-particle contributions. In addition to a few phenomenological comments, we give as a new result the evolution kernel of the combination of three-particle distribution amplitudes $\Psi_A-\Psi_V$ and confirm constraints on $\phi_+$ and $\phi_-$ derived from the light-quark equation of motion.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of the Int. Workshop on Effective Field Theories: from the pion to the upsilon. Feb. 2009. Valencia, Spai

pi K scattering inputs to ChPT

Experimental information on low energy $\pi K$ scattering would shed light on the poorly known OZI suppressed sector of ChPT. I describe recent work aimed at generating such information based on available experimental data by setting up and then solving with appropriate boundary conditions a non linear system of equations of the Roy and Steiner type. First results of this analysis are presented.Comment: Talk given at QCD'03 conference, 2-9 July 2003, Montpellie

Determining the chiral condensate from the distribution of the winding number beyond topological susceptibility

The first two non-trivial moments of the distribution of the topological charge (or gluonic winding number), i.e., the topological susceptibility and the fourth cumulant, can be computed in lattice QCD simulations and exploited to constrain the pattern of chiral symmetry breaking. We compute these two topological observables at next-to-leading order in three-flavour Chiral Perturbation Theory, and we discuss the role played by the eta propagation in these expressions. For hierarchies of light-quark masses close to the physical situation, we show that the fourth cumulant has a much better sensitivity than the topological susceptibility to the three-flavour quark condensate, and thus constitutes a relevant tool to determine the pattern of chiral symmetry breaking in the limit of three massless flavours. We provide the complete formulae for the two topological observables in the isospin limit, and predict their values in the particular setting of the recent analysis of the RBC/UKQCD collaboration. We show that a combination of the topological susceptibility and the fourth cumulant is able to pin down the three-flavour condensate in a particularly clean way in the case of three degenerate quarks.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in EPJ