Reweighting of the form factors in exclusive B --> X ell nu decays

A form factor reweighting technique has been elaborated to permit relatively easy comparisons between different form factor models applied to exclusive B --> X l nu decays. The software tool developped for this purpose is described. It can be used with any event generator, three of which were used in this work: ISGW2, PHSP and FLATQ2, a new powerful generator. The software tool allows an easy and reliable implementation of any form factor model. The tool has been fully validated with the ISGW2 form factor hypothesis. The results of our present studies indicate that the combined use of the FLATQ2 generator and the form factor reweighting tool should play a very important role in future exclusive |Vub| measurements, with largely reduced errors.Comment: accepted for publication by EPJ

p/pi Ratio in Di-Hadron Correlations

Particle ratios are important observables used to constrain models of particle production in heavy-ion collisions. In this work we report on a measurement of the p/pi ratio in the transverse momentum range 2.0 < p_{T,assoc} < 4.0 GeV/c, associated with a charged trigger particle of 5.0 < p_{T,trig} < 10.0 GeV/c, in 0-10% central Pb--Pb collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76 TeV. The ratio is measured in the jet peak and in a region at large Delta eta separation from the peak (bulk region). The presented results are based on 14M minimum-bias Pb--Pb collisions, recorded by the ALICE detector. It is observed that the p/pi ratio in the bulk region is compatible with the p/pi ratio of an inclusive measurement, and is much larger than the p/pi ratio in the jet peak. The p/pi ratio in the jet peak is compatible with a PYTHIA reference, in which fragmentation in the vacuum is the dominant mechanism of particle production

Towards e+e- --> 3 jets at NNLO by sector decomposition

A method based on sector decomposition has been developed to calculate the double real radiation part of the process e+e- to 3 jets at next-to-next-to-leading order. It is shown in an example that the numerical cancellation of soft and collinear poles works well. The method is flexible to include an arbitrary measurement function in the final Monte Carlo program, such that it allows to obtain differential distributions for different kinds of observables. This is demonstrated by showing 3-, 4- and 5-jet rates at order alpha_s^3 for a subpart of the process.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Microscopic Models of Heavy Ion Interactions

An introduction to dynamical microscopic models of hadronic and nuclear interactions is presented. Special emphasis is put in the relation between multiparticle production and total cross-section contributions. In heavy ion collisions, some observables, considered as signals of the production of a Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), are studied. It is shown that they can only be described if final state interactions are introduced. It is argued that the cross-sections required are too small to drive the system to thermal equilibrium within the duration time of the final state interaction.Comment: 39 pages, 18 figures. Lectures at VIII Hispalensis International Summer School, Seville (Spain), to be published by Springer Verla

The Heavy Hadron Spectrum

I discuss the spectrum of hadrons containing heavy quarks ($b$ or $c$), and how well the experimental results are matched by theoretical ideas. Useful insights come from potential models and applications of Heavy Quark Symmetry and these can be compared with new numerical results from the ab initio methods of Lattice QCD.Comment: 64 pages, Latex, lectures at Schladming Winter School 199

QCD explanation of oscillating hadron and jet multiplicity moments

Ratios of multiplicity moments, H_q (cumulant over factorial moments K_q/F_q), have been observed to show an oscillatory behaviour with respect to order, q. Recent studies of e^+e^- annihilations at LEP have shown, moreover, that the amplitude and oscillation length vary strongly with the jet resolution parameter y_{cut}. We study the predictions of the perturbative QCD parton cascade assuming low non-perturbative cut-off (Q_0\sim \Lambda_{QCD}\sim few 100 MeV) and derive the expectations as a function of the cms energy and jet resolution from threshold to very high energies. We consider numerical solutions of the evolution equations of gluodynamics in Double Logarithmic and Modified Leading Logarithmic Approximations (DLA,MLLA), as well as results from a parton MC with readjusted parameters. The main characteristics are obtained in MLLA, while a more numerically accurate description is obtained by the MC model. A unified description of correlations between hadrons and correlations between jets emerges, in particular for the transition region of small y_{cut}.Comment: 31 pages, 14 figure

ATLAS silicon module assembly and qualification tests at IFIC Valencia

ATLAS experiment, designed to probe the interactions of particles emerging out of proton proton collisions at energies of up to 14 TeV, will assume operation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in 2007. This paper discusses the assembly and the quality control tests of forward detector modules for the ATLAS silicon microstrip detector assembled at the Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular (IFIC) in Valencia. The construction and testing procedures are outlined and the laboratory equipment is briefly described. Emphasis is given on the module quality achieved in terms of mechanical and electrical stability.Comment: 23 pages, 38 EPS figures, uses JINST LaTeX clas

Updates to the Dualized Standard Model on Fermion Masses and Mixings

The Dualized Standard Model has scored a number of successes in explaining the fermion mass hierarchy and mixing pattern. This note contains updates to those results including (a) an improved treatment of neutrino oscillation free from previous assumptions on neutrino masses, and hence admitting now the preferred LMA solution to solar neutrinos, (b) an understanding of the limitation of the 1-loop calculation so far performed, thus explaining the two previous discrepancies with data, and (c) an analytic derivation and confirmation of the numerical results previously obtained.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, 1 figure using ep

Probing the QCD equation of state with thermal photons in nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC

Thermal photon production at mid-rapidity in Au+Au reactions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV is studied in the framework of a 2D+1 hydrodynamical model that describes efficiently the bulk identified hadron spectra at RHIC. The combined thermal plus NLO pQCD photon spectrum is in good agreement with the yields measured by the PHENIX experiment for all Au+Au centralities. Within our model, we demonstrate that the correlation of the thermal photon slopes with the charged hadron multiplicity in each centrality bin provides direct empirical information on the underlying degrees of freedom and on the equation of state, $s(T)/T^3$, of the strongly interacting matter.Comment: Version to appear in EPJ-C (extended discussion and refs. and a few corrections

Mixing of Pentaquark and Molecular States

There are experimental evidences for the existence of narrow states $\Theta^+$ and $\Theta_c$ with the same quantum numbers of $uudd\bar s$ and $uudd\bar c$ pentaquarks and also $NK^{(*)}$ and $ND^{(*)}$ molecular states. Their masses deviate from many theoretical estimates of the pure pentaquark and molecular states. In this work we study the possibility that the observed $\Theta^+$ and $\Theta_c$ are mixtures of pure pentaquark and molecular states. The mixing parameters are in general related to non-perturbative QCD which are not calculable at present. We determine them by fitting data from known states and then generalize the mechanism to $\Theta_b$ to predict its mass and width. The mixing mechanism can also naturally explain the narrow width for $\Theta^+$ and $\Theta_c$ through destructive interferences, even if the pure pentaquark and molecular states have much larger decay widths. We also briefly discuss the properties of the partner eigenstates of $\Theta^+$ and $\Theta_c$ and the possibility of experimentally observe them. Moreover, probable consequences of multi-state mixing are also addressed.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures. Published version in EPJ