Search

We study the phase diagram of a generalized Winfree model. The modification is such that the coupling depends on the fraction of synchronized oscillators, a situation which has been noted in some experiments on coupled Josephson junctions and mechanical systems. We let the global coupling k be a function of the Kuramoto order parameter r through an exponent z such that z=1 corresponds to the standard Winfree model, z<1 strengthens the coupling at low r (low amount of synchronization) and, at z>1, the coupling is weakened for low r. Using both analytical and numerical approaches, we find that z controls the size of the incoherent phase region, and one may make the incoherent behavior less typical by choosing z<1. We also find that the original Winfree model is a rather special case, indeed the partial locked behavior disappears for z>1. At fixed k and varying gamma, the stability boundary of the locked phase corresponds to a transition that is continuous for z<1 and first-order for z>1. This change in the nature of the transition is in accordance with a previous study on a similarly modified Kuramoto model., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

We study the interplay between the chiral and the deconfinement transitions, both at high temperature and high quark chemical potential, by a non local Nambu-Jona Lasinio model with the Polyakov loop in the mean field approximation and requiring neutrality of the ground state. We consider three forms of the effective potential of the Polyakov loop: two of them with a fixed deconfinement scale, cases I and II, and the third one with a $\mu$ dependent scale, case III. In the cases I and II, at high chemical potential $\mu$ and low temperature $T$ the main contribution to the free energy is due to the Z(3)-neutral three-quark states, mimicking the quarkyonic phase of the large $N_c$ phase diagram. On the other hand in the case III the quarkyonic window is shrunk to a small region. Finally we comment on the relations of these results to lattice studies and on possible common prospects. We also briefly comment on the coexistence of quarkyonic and color superconductive phases., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, RevTeX4. Some typos corrected, references added

We study how the charge neutrality affects the phase structure of three-flavor PNJL model. We point out that, within the conventional PNJL model at finite density the color neutrality is missing because the Wilson line serves as an external ``colored'' field coupled to dynamical quarks. In this paper we heuristically assume that the model may still be applicable. To get color neutrality one has then to allow non vanishing color chemical potentials. We study how the quark matter phase diagram in $(T,m_s^2/\mu)$-plane is affected by imposing neutrality and by including the Polyakov loop dynamics. Although these two effects are correlated in a nonlinear way, the impact of the Polyakov loop turns out to be significant in the $T$ direction, while imposing neutrality brings a remarkable effect in the $m_s^2/\mu$ direction. In particular, we find a novel unlocking transition, when the temperature is increased, even in the chiral SU(3) limit. We clarify how and why this is possible once the dynamics of the colored Polyakov loop is taken into account. Also we succeed in giving an analytic expression for $T_c$ for the transition from two-flavor pairing (2SC) to unpaired quark matter in the presence of the Polyakov loop., Comment: 11 pages, REVTex4, 10 eps figures; v2: added two notes, added a reference; version to appear in Phys. Rev. D

We study the phase diagram and the pion modes in the electrically neutral two flavor PNJL model. One of the main result of this paper is that when electrical neutrality is required, pions do not condense in the ground state of the model: the isospin chemical potential $\mu_I = -\mu_e/2$ is always smaller than the value required for pion condensation to occur. Moreover we investigate on the pions and $\sigma$ mass spectra. We find that the qualitative behavior of the masses resembles that obtained in the NJL model. We close this paper by studying the intriguing possibility that a bound state with the quantum numbers of the pions can be formed above the chiral phase transition., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, RevTeX4 style. One figure added, role of the bare quark mass clarified, some reference added. To appear on Phys. Rev. D

We study the phase diagram of the three flavor Polyakov-Nambu-Jona Lasinio (PNJL) model and in particular the interplay between chiral symmetry restoration and deconfinement crossover. We compute chiral condensates, quark densities and the Polyakov loop at several values of temperature and chemical potential. Moreover we investigate on the role of the Polyakov loop dynamics in the transition from nuclear matter to quark matter., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX4 style

AdS/QCD correspondence predicts the structure of quark-antiquark potential in the static limit. We use this piece of information together with the Salpeter equation (Schr\"odinger equation with relativistic kinematics) and a short range hyperfine splitting potential to determine quark masses and the quark potential parameters from the meson spectrum. The agreement between theory and experimental data is satisfactory provided one considers only mesons comprising at least one heavy quark. We use the same potential (in the one-gluon-exchange approximation) and these data to estimate constituent diquark masses. Using these results as an input we compute tetraquark masses using a diquark-antidiquark model. The masses of the states X(3872) or Y(3940) are predicted rather accurately. We also compute tetraquark masses with open charm and strangeness. Our result is that tetraquark candidates such as D_s(2317), D_s(2457) or X(2632) can hardly be interpreted as diquark-antidiquark states within the present approach., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures

We consider the Polyakov Nambu Jona Lasinio model with three massless quarks at high density and moderate temperature in the superconductive color flavor locking phase. We compute the critical temperature $T_c$ as a function of the baryonic chemical potential for the phase transition from the superconductive state to the normal phase. We find that $T_c$ is higher by a factor 1.5 -2 in comparison to the model containing no Polyakov loop. We also compute the specific heat $C_v$ near the second order phase transition and we show that the inclusion of the Polyakov loop does not change the value of the critical exponent., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX4 style

We study the bosonic excitations in the favorite cubic three flavor crystalline LOFF phases of QCD. We calculate in the Ginzburg-Landau approximation the masses of the eight pseudo Nambu-Goldstone Bosons (NGB) present in the low energy theory. We also compute the decay constants of the massless NGB Goldstones associated to superfluidity as well as those of the eight pseudo NGB. Differently from the corresponding situation in the Color-Flavor-Locking phase, we find that meson condensation phases are not expected in the present scenario., Comment: 10 pages, RevTeX4 class. Section IIIA enlarged, to appear on Phys. Rev. D

We present a self-consistent evaluation of the constituent quark masses in the three flavor Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phases of QCD, employing an improved Nambu-Jona Lasinio model. This result allows to determine the window for values of the baryonic chemical potential where the LOFF state is energetically favored., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, JHEP3 style. A second treatment of the ultraviolet cutoff added. Three figures adapted to the new cutoff. Two references added. Version accepted for publication on JHEP

At high nuclear density and small temperature, due to the asymptotic freedom property of Quantum ChromoDynamics and to the existence of an attractive channel in the color interaction, diquark condensates might be formed. Since these condensates break the color gauge symmetry, this phenomenon has the name of color superconductivity. In the last few years this has become a very active field of research. While a direct experimental test is still missing, color superconductivity might have implications in astrophysics because for some compact stars, e.g. pulsars, the baryon densities necessary for color superconductivity can probably be reached., Comment: Seminar given at the International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi", CLXIV Course: Ultra-Cold Fermi Gases, Varenna, June 20th-June 30th 2006, to appear in the proceedings

We discuss specific heat and neutrino emissivity due to direct Urca processes for quark matter in the color superconductive Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phase of Quantum-Chromodynamics. We assume that the three light quarks $u, d, s$ are in a color and electrically neutral state and interact by a four fermion Nambu-Jona Lasinio coupling. We study a LOFF state characterized by a single plane wave for each pairing. From the evaluation of neutrino emissivity and fermionic specific heat, the cooling rate of simplified models of compact stars with a quark core in the LOFF state is estimated., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, revtex4 style. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D

We study in the Ginzburg-Landau approximation, the Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phase of QCD with three flavors and one plane wave, including terms of order O(1/mu). We show that the LOFF window is slightly enlarged, and actually splits into two different regions, one characterized by u-s and d-u pairings and the other with d-u pairs only., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

We present an analysis of two-body B decays with a pseudoscalar (P) and an axial-vector meson (A) in the final state using naive factorization. We employ as inputs a limited number of experimental data, i.e. results for the B -> K1 gamma and B -> K* gamma radiative decays and the branching ratios for B -> pion+rho, pion+K*, K+rho, K+pion non leptonic decays. In this way we are able to make predictions on several B -> P A decays that might be used as a guide for experimental researches of these decays and as tests of factorization., Comment: Some entries in Tables V and VI modified due to new data for B->K rho decays. One reference and a comment on K1b weak coupling added. Two predictions for the channels with a kaon and a positively charged axial vector presented

We compute in the Ginzburg-Landau approximation the gluon Meissner masses for the Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phase of QCD with three flavors in the kinematical range where it is energetically favored. We find real Meissner masses and therefore chromomagnetic stability., Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures

We explore, using a Ginzburg-Landau expansion of the free energy, the Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phase of QCD with three flavors, using the NJL four-fermion coupling to mimic gluon interactions. We find that, below the point where the QCD homogeneous superconductive phases should give way to the normal phase, Cooper condensation of the pairs u-s and d-u is possible, but in the form of the inhomogeneous LOFF pairing., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Eq. (20) corrected. As a consequence figures have been modified to show only the solution with parallel total momenta of the us, ud pairs, as the other configurations are suppressed. Main conclusions of the paper are unchanged

We show the existence of a pseudogap phase in the Nambu Jona-Lasinio model of quark interactions. In the pseudogap phase chiral symmetry is restored but q\bar q pseudoscalar mesons still exist and they are massive. Such a behavior is intermediate between a BCS superconductor and a Bose Einstein Condensate. We suggest the relevance of this phenomenon for an understanding of recent lattice QCD and experimental data., Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. D (a discussion on the cutoff and a few references added)

The large branching ratio for B-> K1 gamma recently measured at Belle implies a large B -> K1 transition form factor and large branching ratios for non leptonic B decays involving an axial-vector meson. In this paper we present an analysis of two-body B decays with an axial-vector meson in the final state using naive factorization and the B -> K1 form factors obtained from the measured radiative decays. We find that the predicted B -> J/psi K1 branching ratio is in agreement with experiment. We also suggest that the decay rates of B -> K1 pi, B -> a1 K and B -> b1 K could be used to test the factorization ansatz., Comment: 8 pages; 7 new references included and a comment on K2(1430) in the final state added

I give a summary of Section E of the sixth edition of the Conference "Quark confinement and the hadron spectrum". Papers were presented on different subjects, from spectroscopy, including pentaquarks and hadron structure, to new physics effects (non commutative field theories, supersymmetry and extra dimensions) and the problem of color confinement, both in ordinary Yang-Mills models and in supersymmetric Yang-Mills., Comment: Summary talk of Section E for the Conference "Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum VI", Villasimius, Cagliari, Italy, September 21-25, 2004

We calculate the Meissner masses of gluons in neutral three-flavor color superconducting matter for finite strange quark mass. In the CFL phase the eissner masses are slowly varying function of the strange quark mass. For large strange quark mass, in the so called gCFL phase, the Meissner masses of gluons with colors $a=1,2,3$ and 8 become imaginary, indicating an instability., Comment: New Fig. 1 shows that also the masses of the gluons 3 and 8 are imaginary

We show that a general purpose clusterization algorithm, Deterministic Annealing, can be adapted to the problem of jet identification in particle production by high energy collisions. In particular we consider the problem of jet searching in events generated at hadronic colliders. Deterministic Annealing is able to reproduce the results obtained by traditional jet algorithms and to exhibit a higher degree of flexibility., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures

We compute, at the first order in the fine structure constant, the parameters of the electromagnetic Lagrangian for the inhomogeneous Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell phase in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and in condensed matter. In particular we compute for QCD with two flavors the dielectric and the magnetic permeability tensors, and for condensed matter superconductors the penetration depth of external magnetic fields., Comment: 12 pages

We argue that in the color-flavor-locking (CFL) superconducting phase classical soliton solutions can exist, whose excitations should be interpreted as states formed by a quark (or an antiquark) and condensed diquarks. This finding extends the picture of quark-hadron-continuity showing the existence of a region, intermediate between the CFL and the hypernuclear phase, where chiral solitons and Nambu Goldstone bosons can exist. We derive an expression of the soliton mass in terms of the QCD coupling, $g_s$, and the Nambu Goldstone boson parameters. From the quark-hadron continuity we can draw an argument in favor of the interpretation of the $\Theta^+(1540)$ particle in terms of a strange antiquark and two highly correlated $ud$ pairs (diquarks)., Comment: 12 pages, LaTex. 2 figures. Final version for Physics Letters B

We present an approximate gap equation for different crystalline structures of the LOFF phase of high density QCD at T=0. This equation is derived by using an effective condensate term obtained by averaging the inhomogeneous condensate over distances of the order of the crystal lattice size. The approximation is expected to work better far off any second order phase transition. As a function of the difference of the chemical potentials of the up and down quarks, $\delta\mu$, we get that the octahedron is energetically favored from $\delta\mu=\Delta_0/\sqrt 2$ to $0.95\Delta_0$, where $\Delta_0$ is the gap for the homogeneous phase, while in the range $0.95\Delta_0-1.32\Delta_0$ the face centered cube prevails. At $\delta\mu=1.32\Delta_0$ a first order phase transition to the normal phase occurs., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

We investigate phase synchronization in EEG recordings from migraine patients. We use the analytic signal technique, based on the Hilbert transform, and find that migraine brains are characterized by enhanced alpha band phase synchronization in presence of visual stimuli. Our findings show that migraine patients have an overactive regulatory mechanism that renders them more sensitive to external stimuli., Comment: 4 pages

We study the phase-synchronization properties of systolic and diastolic arterial pressure in healthy subjects. We find that delays in the oscillatory components of the time series depend on the frequency bands that are considered, in particular we find a change of sign in the phase shift going from the Very Low Frequency band to the High Frequency band. This behavior should reflect a collective behavior of a system of nonlinear interacting elementary oscillators. We prove that some models describing such systems, e.g. the Winfree and the Kuramoto models offer a clue to this phenomenon. For these theoretical models there is a linear relationship between phase shifts and the difference of natural frequencies of oscillators and a change of sign in the phase shift naturally emerges., Comment: 8 figures, 9 pages

We present the results from the heavy quarks and quarkonia working group. This report gives benchmark heavy quark and quarkonium cross sections for $pp$ and $pA$ collisions at the LHC against which the $AA$ rates can be compared in the study of the quark-gluon plasma. We also provide an assessment of the theoretical uncertainties in these benchmarks. We then discuss some of the cold matter effects on quarkonia production, including nuclear absorption, scattering by produced hadrons, and energy loss in the medium. Hot matter effects that could reduce the observed quarkonium rates such as color screening and thermal activation are then discussed. Possible quarkonium enhancement through coalescence of uncorrelated heavy quarks and antiquarks is also described. Finally, we discuss the capabilities of the LHC detectors to measure heavy quarks and quarkonia as well as the Monte Carlo generators used in the data analysis., Comment: 126 pages Latex; 96 figures included. Subgroup report, to appear in the CERN Yellow Book of the workshop: Hard Probes in Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC. See also http://a.home.cern.ch/f/frixione/www/hvq.html for a version with better quality for a few plots

We evaluate the decays B => K* pi, K (rho,omega,phi) adding the long distance charming penguin contributions to the short distance: Tree+Penguin amplitudes. We estimate the imaginary part of the charming penguin by an effective field theory inspired by the Heavy Quark Effective Theory and parameterize its real part. The final results for branching ratios depend on only two real parameters and show a significant role of the charming penguins. The overall agreement with the available experimental data is satisfactory., Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure

We calculate the specific heats of quasi-particles of two-flavor QCD in its crystalline phases for low temperature. We show that for the different crystalline structures considered here there are gapless modes contributing linearly in temperature to the specific heat. We evaluate also the phonon contributions which are cubic in temperature. These features might be relevant for compact stars with an inner shell in a color superconducting crystalline phase., Comment: LaTex, 13 pages. Final version published on Physics Letters including an ERRATA (to be published)

In this note we discuss a determination for the mass of the Ds(0+,1+) system recently discovered by the BaBar, CLEO II and Belle Collaborations. The value of the mass is derived by making explicit the prediction obtained in a quark-meson model prior to the discovery of these states., Comment: 3 pages, revtex

We present an evaluation of the strong couplings JD^(*)D^(*) and JD^(*)D^(*)pi by an effective field theory of quarks and mesons. These couplings are necessary to calculate pi+J/psi --> D^(*)+barD^(*) cross sections, an important background to the J/psi suppression signal in the quark-gluon plasma. We write down the general effective lagrangian and compute the relevant couplings in the soft pion limit and beyond., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 2 reference added and minor comments, style changed to RevTeX

We study two aspects of the CFL phase of QCD in the NJL approximation. The first one is the issue of the dependence on \mu of the ultraviolet cutoff in the gap equation, which is solved allowing a running coupling constant. The second one is the dependence of the gap on the strange quark mass; using the high density effective theory we perform an expansion in the parameter (m_s/\mu)^2 after checking that its numerical validity is very good already at first order., Comment: LaTeX file, 6 figures

In this note we present an evaluation of the couplings JD(*)D(*) and JD(*)D(*)pi in the Constituent Quark Model. These couplings are a crucial ingredient in the calculation of cross sections for the processes pi J/psi -> D(*)Dbar(*), an important background for the J/psi suppression signal in quark-gluon plasma., Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures, in Workshop on Hard Probes in Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC

The high density effective theory formalism (HDET) is employed to describe high density QCD with two massive flavors (2SC). The gap equation is derived and explicitly solved for the gap parameter. The parameters associated to the pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson of $U(1)_A$ are evaluated in the limit $\mu\to\infty$ and $m/\mu$ fixed. In particular we find for the velocity of the NG boson the relation $v^2=\sqrt{\mu_1^2-m_1^2}\sqrt{\mu_2^2-m_2^2}/3\mu_1\mu_2$., Comment: Latex file. 14 pages, 2 figures. Some improvement in the presentation. 2 references added. Final version to be published in Physics Letters

The High Density Effective Theory formalism is used to calculate the low energy properties of the phonons and gluons in the Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phase of two-flavor QCD. The effective phonon Lagrangian for the cubic crystal structure, which is favored according to a recent study, depends, at the second order in the derivatives, on three parameters which we calculate in this paper. We also compute for soft momenta the effective lagrangian for the gluons of the unbroken SU(2)_c group, both for a single plane wave structure and for the cube. In both cases the Meissner gluon mass vanishes as in the case of complete isotropy; on the other hand there is a partial Debye screening due to the existence of blocking regions on the Fermi spheres. For the single plane wave structure the gluon dielectric tensor is non isotropic, while it is isotropic for the cubic crystal, in spite of the intrinsic anisotropy of the structure., Comment: 38 pages, 4 figures

We perform a comparison of two jet clusterization algorithms. The first one is the standard Durham algorithm and the second one is a global optimization scheme, Deterministic Annealing, often used in clusterization problems, and adapted to the problem of jet identification in particle production by high energy collisions; in particular we study hadronic jets in WW production by high energy electron positron scattering. Our results are as follows. First, we find that the two procedures give basically the same output as far as the particle clusterization is concerned. Second, we find that the increase of CPU time with the particle multiplicity is much faster for the Durham jet clustering algorithm in comparison with Deterministic Annealing. Since this result follows from the higher computational complexity of the Durham scheme, it should not depend on the particular process studied here and might be significant for jet physics at LHC as well., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures

In the high density, low temperature limit, Quantum Chromodynamics exhibits a transition to phases characterized by color superconductivity and energy gaps in the fermion spectra. We review some fundamental results obtained in this area and in particular we describe the low energy effective lagrangian describing the motion of the quasi-particles in the high density medium (High Density Effective Theory)., Comment: 17 pages, Invited review talk at Workshop on Quark Gluon Plasma and Relativistic Heavy Ions, Frascati, Italy, 14-18 Jan 2002

The recent study by Bowers and Rajagopal on the possible structures for the QCD crystalline color superconducting phase favors a cubic structure and allows for a first discussion of the QCD dynamics in the crystalline phase. The cubic structure leads to complete breaking of traslation invariance and to three phonon modes. We discuss the expected form of the effective Lagrangian and the phonon dispersion laws assuming the proposed crystal structure. Besides the interest for QCD and the related possible relevance to compact stars these considerations may become useful to atomic systems exhibiting crystalline superfluidity., Comment: Final version to be published on Physics Letters, 16 pages, 2 figures

In the high density low temperature limit, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) exhibits a transition to a phase characterized by color superconductivity and by energy gaps in the fermion spectra. Under specific circumstances the gap parameter has a crystalline pattern, breaking translational and rotational invariance. The corresponding phase is the the crystalline color superconductive phase (or {\it LOFF} phase). In the effective theory the fermions couple to the phonon arising from the breaking of rotation and translation invariance. We compute the parameters of the low energy effective lagrangian describing the motion of the free phonon in the high density medium and derive the phonon dispersion law., Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure, LaTex file. Final version appeared in Phys. Rev. D

We present estimates of the charming penguin contribution to B => K pi, pi pi,K eta, K eta' decays due to intermediate charmed meson states. We find that this contribution is indeed significant for B => K pi decays, and its inclusion, together with the tree and penguin terms, produces large branching ratios in agreement with data, though the analysis is affected by large theoretical uncertainties. On the other hand, for B => pi pi, K eta, K eta' decays, the effect of the charming penguin contribution is more modest. We also compute CP asymmetries for B => K pi, pi pi decays and we obtain rather large results., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, LaTeX2e with epsfig. Minor changes in the text, this version will appear in Phys. Rev. D

The gluon self-energies and dispersion laws in the color superconducting phase of QCD with two massless flavors are calculated using the effective theory near the Fermi surface. These quantities are calculated at zero temperature for all the eight gluons, those of the remaining SU(2) color group and those corresponding to the broken generators. The construction of the effective interaction is completed with the one loop calculation of the three- and four-point gluon interactions., Comment: LaTeX, p 17, 4 figures. Final version to be published in Phys. Lett. B. Several corrections have been done and some point clarified

We present an effective field theory for high density, low temperature QCD in the crystalline colour superconductive phase (LOFF phase). This interesting phase of QCD is characterized by a gap parameter with a crystalline pattern, breaking traslational and rotational invariance, and could have astrophysical applications. In the effective theory the fermions have a Majorana mass, which, besides colour, breaks translation and rotation symmetries. Fermions couple to the three phonons arising from the breaking of rotation and translation invariance. Integrating out the fermions leads eventually to an effective lagrangian in terms of the phonon fields only, which satisfies an anisotropic dispersion relation., Comment: Latex, 17 pages, Modifications in the effective goldstone boson description

We present calculations of the charming-penguin long-distance contributions to B => K \pi decays due to intermediate charmed meson states. Our calculation is based on the Chiral Effective Lagrangean for light and heavy mesons, corrected for the hard pion and kaon momenta. We find that the charming-penguin contributions increase significantly the B => K \pi decay rates in comparison with the short-distance contributions, giving results in better agreement with experimental data., Comment: 13 pages LaTeX (uses RevTeX and epsfig), 3 figures. Corrected typos. To appear in Physical Review D

We examine the D_s -> f_0(980) pi amplitude through a constituent quark-meson model, incorporating heavy quark and chiral symmetries, finding a good agreement with the recent E791 data analysis of D_s -> 3pi via f_0(980). The f_0(980) resonance is considered at the moment of production as an s sbar state, later evolving to a superposition of mainly s sbar and K Kbar. The analysis is also extended to the more frequent process D_s -> phi pi., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures

We evaluate several quantities appearing in the effective lagrangian for the color-flavor locked phase of high density QCD using a formalism which exploits the approximate decoupling of fermions with energy negative with respect to the Fermi energy. The effective theory is essentially two-dimensional and exhibits a Fermi velocity superselection rule, similar to the one found in the Heavy Quark Effective Theory. Within the formalism we reproduce, using gradient expansion, the results for the effective parameters of the Nambu-Goldstone bosons. We also determine the dispersion laws for the gluons. By coupling the theory to fermions and integrating over the two-dimensional degrees of freedom we obtain the effective description of in-medium fermions., Comment: 17 pages, LaTex, 2 figures. Version published in Phys. Lett. B with an arithmetic misprint corrected in eq. (62) (and as a consequence in eqs. (63), (66) and (73))

We examine the D -> sigma pi amplitude through a constituent quark-meson model, incorporating heavy quark and chiral symmetries, finding a good agreement with the recent E791 data analysis of D -> 3 pi via sigma., Comment: 6 pages, RevTex, One new contribution added, typos corrected

Diluted neural networks with continuous neurons and nonmonotonic transfer function are studied, with both fixed and dynamic synapses. A noisy stimulus with periodic variance results in a mechanism for controlling chaos in neural systems with fixed synapses: a proper amount of external perturbation forces the system to behave periodically with the same period as the stimulus., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures

We reconsider two classical proposals for the determination of the angle gamma of the unitarity triangle: B^\pm => chi_{c0} \pi^\pm => \pi^+\pi^-\pi^\pm and B_s => rho^0 K_S => \pi^+ \pi^- K_S. We point out the relevance, in both cases, of non resonant amplitudes, where the \pi^+ \pi^- pair is produced by weak decay of a B^* (J^P=1^-) or B_0 (J^P=0^+) off-shell meson. In particular, for the B decay channel, the inclusion of the B_0 pole completes some previous analyses and confirms their conclusions, provided a suitable cut in the Dalitz plot is performed; for the B_s decay the inclusion of the B^*, B_0 amplitudes enhances the role of the tree diagrams as compared to penguin amplitudes, which makes the theoretical uncertainty related to the B_s => rho^0 K_S decay process less significant. While the first method is affected by theoretical uncertainties, the second one is cleaner, but its usefulness will depend on the available number of events to perform the analysis., Comment: 8 pages LATEX, 4 figures, 1 table

The decay mode B -> rho pi is currently studied as a channel allowing, in principle, to measure without ambiguities the angle alpha of the unitarity triangle. It is also investigated by the CLEO Collaboration where a branching ratio larger than expected for the decay mode B+/- -> rho0 pi+/- has been found. We investigate the role that the B* and B(0+) resonances play in these analyses., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables, LaTeX (uses epsf,revtex) minor typos corrected, reference added

We use QCD sum rules to estimate the universal form factors describing the semileptonic B decays into excited charmed resonances, such as the $1^-$ and $2^-$ states $D_1^{*}$ and $D_2^{*}$ belonging to the $s_\ell^P={3/2}^-$ heavy quark doublet, and the $2^-$ and $3^-$ states $D_2^{*\prime}$ and $D_3$ belonging to the $s_\ell^P={5\2}^-$ doublet., Comment: LaTex, 14 pages, 1 figure

In the framework of a QCD relativistic potential model we evaluate the form factors describing the exclusive decay B => \pi\pi \ell \nu. The calculation is performed in a phase space region far away from the resonances and therefore is complementary to other decay mechanisms where the pions are produced by intermediate particles, e.g. in the chiral approach. We give an estimate of the contribution of the non resonant channel of the order of BR(B- => \pi+ \pi- \ell \nu) \approx 2.2 x 10^(-4)., Comment: 14 pages LaTeX2e + 3 figures, Napoli Preprint DSF 99/32