Search

The electron-positron stage of the Future Circular Collider, FCC-ee, is a frontier factory for Higgs, top, electroweak, and flavour physics. It is designed to operate in a 100 km circular tunnel built at CERN, and will serve as the first step towards $\geq$ 100 TeV proton-proton collisions. In addition to an essential and unique Higgs program, it offers powerful opportunities to discover direct or indirect evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model. Direct searches for long-lived particles at FCC-ee could be particularly fertile in the high-luminosity $Z$ run, where $5\times 10^{12}$ $Z$ bosons are anticipated to be produced for the configuration with two interaction points. The high statistics of Higgs bosons, $W$ bosons and top quarks in very clean experimental conditions could offer additional opportunities at other collision energies. Three physics cases producing long-lived signatures at FCC-ee are highlighted and studied in this paper: heavy neutral leptons (HNLs), axion-like particles (ALPs), and exotic decays of the Higgs boson. These searches motivate out-of-the-box optimization of experimental conditions and analysis techniques, that could lead to improvements in other physics searches., Comment: Contribution to Snowmass 2021

The discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments, was a success achieved with only a percent of the entire dataset foreseen for the LHC. It opened a landscape of possibilities in the study of Higgs boson properties, Electroweak Symmetry breaking and the Standard Model in general, as well as new avenues in probing new physics beyond the Standard Model. Six years after the discovery, with a conspicuously larger dataset collected during LHC Run 2 at a 13 TeV centre-of-mass energy, the theory and experimental particle physics communities have started a meticulous exploration of the potential for precision measurements of its properties. This includes studies of Higgs boson production and decays processes, the search for rare decays and production modes, high energy observables, and searches for an extended electroweak symmetry breaking sector. This report summarises the potential reach and opportunities in Higgs physics during the High Luminosity phase of the LHC, with an expected dataset of pp collisions at 14 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 ab$^{-1}$. These studies are performed in light of the most recent analyses from LHC collaborations and the latest theoretical developments. The potential of an LHC upgrade, colliding protons at a centre-of-mass energy of 27 TeV and producing a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 15 ab$^{-1}$, is also discussed., Comment: Report from Working Group 2 on the Physics of the HL-LHC, and Perspectives at the HE-LHC, 364 pages

Motivated by the success of the flavour physics programme carried out over the last decade at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), we characterize in detail the physics potential of its High-Luminosity and High-Energy upgrades in this domain of physics. We document the extraordinary breadth of the HL/HE-LHC programme enabled by a putative Upgrade II of the dedicated flavour physics experiment LHCb and the evolution of the established flavour physics role of the ATLAS and CMS general purpose experiments. We connect the dedicated flavour physics programme to studies of the top quark, Higgs boson, and direct high-$p_T$ searches for new particles and force carriers. We discuss the complementarity of their discovery potential for physics beyond the Standard Model, affirming the necessity to fully exploit the LHC's flavour physics potential throughout its upgrade eras., Comment: Report from Working Group 4 on the Physics of the HL-LHC, and Perspectives at the HE-LHC, 292 pages

The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) is a mature option for the future of high energy physics. It combines the benefits of the clean environment of $e^+e^-$ colliders with operation at high centre-of-mass energies, allowing to probe scales beyond the reach of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for many scenarios of new physics. This places the CLIC project at a privileged spot in between the precision and energy frontiers, with capabilities that will significantly extend knowledge on both fronts at the end of the LHC era. In this report we review and revisit the potential of CLIC to search, directly and indirectly, for physics beyond the Standard Model., Comment: 282 pages, 128 Figures, 55 Tables and 732 citations. Editors: J. de Blas, R. Franceschini, F. Riva, P. Roloff, U. Schnoor, M. Spannowsky, J. D. Wells, A. Wulzer and J. Zupan. Version published in CERN Yellow Report Monographs

This Report summarizes the results of the activities of the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group in the period 2014-2016. The main goal of the working group was to present the state-of-the-art of Higgs physics at the LHC, integrating all new results that have appeared in the last few years. The first part compiles the most up-to-date predictions of Higgs boson production cross sections and decay branching ratios, parton distribution functions, and off-shell Higgs boson production and interference effects. The second part discusses the recent progress in Higgs effective field theory predictions, followed by the third part on pseudo-observables, simplified template cross section and fiducial cross section measurements, which give the baseline framework for Higgs boson property measurements. The fourth part deals with the beyond the Standard Model predictions of various benchmark scenarios of Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, extended scalar sector, Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and exotic Higgs boson decays. This report follows three previous working-group reports: Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 1. Inclusive Observables (CERN-2011-002), Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 2. Differential Distributions (CERN-2012-002), and Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 3. Higgs properties (CERN-2013-004). The current report serves as the baseline reference for Higgs physics in LHC Run 2 and beyond., Comment: 869 pages, 295 figures, 248 tables and 1645 citations. Working Group web page: https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/LHCPhysics/LHCHXSWG

This Report summarizes the results of the activities in 2012 and the first half of 2013 of the LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group. The main goal of the working group was to present the state of the art of Higgs Physics at the LHC, integrating all new results that have appeared in the last few years. This report follows the first working group report Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 1. Inclusive Observables (CERN-2011-002) and the second working group report Handbook of LHC Higgs Cross Sections: 2. Differential Distributions (CERN-2012-002). After the discovery of a Higgs boson at the LHC in mid-2012 this report focuses on refined prediction of Standard Model (SM) Higgs phenomenology around the experimentally observed value of 125-126 GeV, refined predictions for heavy SM-like Higgs bosons as well as predictions in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and first steps to go beyond these models. The other main focus is on the extraction of the characteristics and properties of the newly discovered particle such as couplings to SM particles, spin and CP-quantum numbers etc., Comment: 404 pages, 139 figures, 162 tables. Updated for author names and minor corrections in the figures and tables. Working Group web page: https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/LHCPhysics/CrossSections

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 tables

We report on recent calculations of the differential cross section for top-quark pair production at hadron colliders. The results are differential with respect to the top-pair invariant mass and to the partonic scattering angle. In these calculations, which were carried out by employing soft-collinear effective theory techniques, we resummed threshold logarithms up to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic order. Starting from the differential cross section, it is possible to obtain theoretical predictions for the invariant-mass distribution and the total cross section. We summarize here our results for these observables, and we compare them with the results obtained from different calculational methods., Comment: Talk presented at Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory 2010, Woerlitz, Germany, April 25-30, 2010. 6 pages

Infrared divergences of QCD scattering amplitudes can be derived from an anomalous dimension matrix, which is also an essential ingredient for the resummation of large logarithms due to soft gluon emissions. We report a recent analytical calculation of the anomalous dimension matrix with both massless and massive partons at two-loop level, which describes the two-loop infrared singularities of any scattering amplitudes with an arbitrary number of massless and massive partons, and also enables soft gluon resummation at next-to-next-to-leading-logarithmic order. As an application, we calculate the infrared poles in the q qbar -> t tbar and gg -> t tbar scattering amplitudes at two-loop order., Comment: Talk presented at Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory 2010, Woerlitz, Germany, April 25-30, 2010

The Large Hadron Collider presents an unprecedented opportunity to probe the realm of new physics in the TeV region and shed light on some of the core unresolved issues of particle physics. These include the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking, the origin of mass, the possible constituent of cold dark matter, new sources of CP violation needed to explain the baryon excess in the universe, the possible existence of extra gauge groups and extra matter, and importantly the path Nature chooses to resolve the hierarchy problem - is it supersymmetry or extra dimensions. Many models of new physics beyond the standard model contain a hidden sector which can be probed at the LHC. Additionally, the LHC will be a top factory and accurate measurements of the properties of the top and its rare decays will provide a window to new physics. Further, the LHC could shed light on the origin of neutralino masses if the new physics associated with their generation lies in the TeV region. Finally, the LHC is also a laboratory to test the hypothesis of TeV scale strings and D-brane models. An overview of these possibilities is presented in the spirit that it will serve as a companion to the Technical Design Reports (TDRs) by the particle detector groups ATLAS and CMS to facilitate the test of the new theoretical ideas at the LHC. Which of these ideas stands the test of the LHC data will govern the course of particle physics in the subsequent decades., Comment: Summary document for international workshop "Beyond the Standard Model at the LHC" (Pre-SUSY09), Northeastern University, Boston, June 2-4, 2009

A comprehensive analysis of tree-level weak interaction processes at low energy is presented for the Randall-Sundrum (RS) model with SU(2)_L * U(1)_Y bulk gauge symmetry and brane-localized Higgs sector. The complete form of the effective weak Hamiltonian is obtained, which results from tree-level exchange of Kaluza-Klein (KK) gluons and photons, the W^+- and Z^0 bosons and their KK excitations, as well as the Higgs boson. Exact expressions are used for the bulk profiles of the various fields, and for the exchange of entire towers of KK gauge-boson states. A detailed phenomenological analysis is performed for potential new-physics effects in neutral-meson mixing and in rare decays of kaons and B mesons, including both inclusive and exclusive processes. We find that while the predictions for \Delta(F)=2 observables are rather model-independent, \Delta(F)=1 processes depend sensitively on the exact realizations of the electroweak gauge and the fermionic sector. In this context, we emphasize that the localization of the right-handed top quark in the extra dimension plays a crucial role in the case of rare Z^0-mediated decays, as it determines the relative size of left- to right-handed couplings. We also extend earlier studies of quark flavor-changing neutral currents by examining observables which up to now attracted little attention. These include D-D(bar) mixing, B-->\tau\nu, B-->X_s (K^*) l^+ l^-, \epsilon_K'/\epsilon_K, B-->\pi K, B^0-->\phi K_S, B^0-->\eta' K_S, and B^+-->\pi^+\pi^0., Comment: 112 pages (sorry!), 22 figures; v2: Extended version of the JHEP publication

We study the impact of next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections on partial decay rates in B --> X_u l nu decays, at leading-order in the 1/m_b expansion for shape-function kinematics. These corrections are implemented within a modified form of the BLNP framework, which allows for arbitrary variations of the jet scale mu_i \sim 1.5 GeV. Our analysis includes a detailed comparison between resummed and fixed-order perturbation theory, and between the complete NNLO results and those obtained in the large-$\beta_0$ approximation. For the default choice mu_i=1.5 GeV used in current extractions of |V_ub| within the BLNP framework, the NNLO corrections induce significant downward shifts in the central values of partial decay rates with cuts on the hadronic variable P_+, the hadronic invariant mass, and the lepton energy. At the same time, perturbative uncertainties are reduced, especially those at the jet scale, which are the dominant ones at next-to-leading order (NLO). For higher values of mu_i and in fixed-order perturbation theory, the shifts between NLO and NNLO are more moderate. We combine our new results with known power-suppressed terms in order to illustrate the implications of our analysis on the determination of |V_ub| from inclusive decays., Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures

One of the major challenges of particle physics has been to gain an in-depth understanding of the role of quark flavor and measurements and theoretical interpretations of their results have advanced tremendously: apart from masses and quantum numbers of flavor particles, there now exist detailed measurements of the characteristics of their interactions allowing stringent tests of Standard Model predictions. Among the most interesting phenomena of flavor physics is the violation of the CP symmetry that has been subtle and difficult to explore. Till early 1990s observations of CP violation were confined to neutral $K$ mesons, but since then a large number of CP-violating processes have been studied in detail in neutral $B$ mesons. In parallel, measurements of the couplings of the heavy quarks and the dynamics for their decays in large samples of $K, D$, and $B$ mesons have been greatly improved in accuracy and the results are being used as probes in the search for deviations from the Standard Model. In the near future, there will be a transition from the current to a new generation of experiments, thus a review of the status of quark flavor physics is timely. This report summarizes the results of the current generation of experiments that is about to be completed and it confronts these results with the theoretical understanding of the field., Comment: Report of the CKM workshop, Rome 9-13th Sep. 2008, 340 pages, 106 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Repts

The integrated branching fraction of the process $B\to X_s l^+l^-$ is dominated by resonance background from narrow charmonium states, such as $B\to X_s\psi\to X_s l^+l^-$, which exceeds the non-resonant charm-loop contribution by two orders of magnitude. The origin of this fact is discussed in view of the general expectation of quark-hadron duality. The situation in $B\to X_s l^+l^-$ is contrasted with charm-penguin amplitudes in two-body hadronic B decays of the type $B\to\pi\pi$, for which it is demonstrated that resonance effects and the potentially non-perturbative $c\bar c$ threshold region do not invalidate the standard picture of QCD factorization. This holds irrespective of whether the charm quark is treated as a light or a heavy quark., Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures

A detailed phenomenological analysis of neutral kaon mixing in "little Randall-Sundrum" models is presented. It is shown that the constraints arising from the CP-violating quantity epsilon_K can, depending on the value of the ultra-violet cutoff, be even stronger than in the original Randall-Sundrum scenario addressing the hierarchy problem up to the Planck scale. The origin of the enhancement is explained, and a bound Lambda_{UV}>several 10^3 TeV is derived, below which vast corrections to epsilon_K are generically unavoidable. Implications for non-standard Z->bb couplings are briefly discussed., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures

A complete discussion of tree-level flavor-changing effects in the Randall-Sundrum (RS) model with brane-localized Higgs sector and bulk gauge and matter fields is presented. The bulk equations of motion for the gauge and fermion fields, supplemented by boundary conditions taking into account the couplings to the Higgs sector, are solved exactly. For gauge fields the Kaluza-Klein (KK) decomposition is performed in a covariant R_xi gauge. For fermions the mixing between different generations is included in a completely general way. The hierarchies observed in the fermion spectrum and the quark mixing matrix are explained naturally in terms of anarchic five-dimensional Yukawa matrices and wave-function overlap integrals. Detailed studies of the flavor-changing couplings of the Higgs boson and of gauge bosons and their KK excitations are performed, including in particular the couplings of the standard W and Z bosons. A careful analysis of electroweak precision observables including the S and T parameters and the Zbb couplings shows that the simplest RS model containing only Standard Model particles and their KK excitations is consistent with all experimental bounds for a KK scale as low as a few TeV, if one allows for a heavy Higgs boson and/or for an ultra-violet cutoff below the Planck scale. The study of flavor-changing effects includes analyses of the non-unitarity of the quark mixing matrix, anomalous right-handed couplings of the W bosons, tree-level flavor-changing neutral current couplings of the Z and Higgs bosons, the rare decays t-->c(u)+Z and t-->c(u)+h, and the flavor mixing among KK fermions. The results obtained in this work form the basis for general calculations of flavor-changing processes in the RS model and its extensions., Comment: 70 pages, 12 figures. v2: Incorrect treatment of phases in zero-mode approximation corrected, and discussion of electroweak precision tests modified. v3: Additional minor modifications and typos corrected; version published in JHEP

A high-resolution calorimetric study has been carried out on nano-colloidal dispersions of aerosils in the liquid crystal 4-\textit{n}-pentylphenylthiol-4'-\textit{n}-octyloxybenzoate ($\bar{8}$S5) as a function of aerosil concentration and temperature spanning the smectic-\textit{C} to nematic phases. Over this temperature range, this liquid crystal possesses two continuous XY phase transitions: a fluctuation dominated nematic to smectic-\textit{A} transition with $\alpha \approx \alpha_{XY} = -0.013$ and a mean-field smectic-\textit{A} to smectic-\textit{C} transition. The effective critical character of the \textit{N}-Sm\textit{A} transition remains unchanged over the entire range of introduced quenched random disorder while the peak height and enthalpy can be well described by considering a cut-off length scale to the quasi-critical fluctuations. The robust nature of the \textit{N}-Sm\textit{A} transition in this system contrasts with cyanobiphenyl-aerosil systems and may be due to the mesogens being non-polar and having a long nematic range. The character of the Sm\textit{A}-Sm\textit{C} transition changes gradually with increasing disorder but remains mean-field-like. The heat capacity maximum at the Sm\textit{A}-Sm\textit{C} transition scales as $\rho_S^{-0.5}$ with an apparent evolution from tricritical to a simple mean-field step behavior. These results may be generally understood as a stiffening of the liquid crystal (both the nematic elasticity as well as the smectic layer compression modulus $B$) with silica density., Comment: Accepted by Physical Review E

The Proceedings of the 2003 SLAC Workshops on flavor physics with a high luminosity asymmetric e+e- collider. The sensitivity of flavor physics to physics beyond the Standard Model is addressed in detail, in the context of the improvement of experimental measurements and theoretical calculations., Comment: 476 pages. Printed copies may be obtained by request to kwebb@slac.stanford.edu . arXiv admin note: v2 appears to be identical to v1

We show that the factorization formula for non-leptonic B decays to two light flavor non-singlet mesons derived by Bauer et al. in the context of soft-collinear effective theory is equivalent to the corresponding formula in the QCD factorization approach. The apparent numerical differences in the analysis of B->pi+pi data performed by these authors, as compared to previous QCD factorization analyses, can largely be attributed to the neglect of known perturbative and power corrections., Comment: Comment on hep-ph/0401188 by Bauer, Pirjol, Rothstein and Stewart; 4 pages

Using methods of effective field theory, factorized expressions for arbitrary B -> X_u l nu decay distributions in the shape-function region of large hadronic energy and moderate hadronic invariant mass are derived. Large logarithms are resummed at next-to-leading order in renormalization-group improved perturbation theory. The operator product expansion is employed to relate moments of the renormalized shape function with HQET parameters such as m_b, Lambda(bar) and lambda_1 defined in a new physical subtraction scheme. An analytic expression for the asymptotic behavior of the shape function is obtained, which reveals that it is not positive definite. Explicit expressions are presented for the charged-lepton energy spectrum, the hadronic invariant mass distribution, and the spectrum in the hadronic light-cone momentum P_+ = E_H - P_H. A new method for a precision measurement of |V_{ub}| is proposed, which combines good theoretical control with high efficiency and a powerful discrimination against charm background., Comment: 51 pages, 10 figures; minor corrections, version to appear in Nuclear Physics B

The short-range order which remains when the isotropic to smectic-A transition is perturbed by a gel of silica nanoparticles (aerosils) has been studied using high-resolution synchrotron x-ray diffraction. The gels have been created \textit{in situ} in decylcyanobiphenyl (10CB), which has a strongly first-order isotropic to smectic-A transition. The effects are determined by detailed analysis of the temperature and gel density dependence of the smectic structure factor. In previous studies of the continuous nematic to smectic-A transition in a variety of thermotropic liquid crystals the aerosil gel appeared to pin, at random, the phase of the smectic density modulation. For the isotropic to smectic-A transition the same gel perturbation yields different results. The smectic correlation length decreases more slowly with increasing random field variance in good quantitative agreement with the effect of a random pinning field at a transition from a uniform phase directly to a phase with one-dimensional translational order. We thus compare the influence of random fields on a \textit{freezing} transition with and without an intervening orientationally ordered phase., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

The effects of dispersed aerosil nanoparticles on two of the phase transitions of the thermotropic liquid crystal material 4-n-pentylphenylthiol-4'-n-octyloxybenzoate 8barS5 have been studied using high-resolution x-ray diffraction techniques. The aerosils hydrogen bond together to form a gel which imposes a weak quenched disorder on the liquid crystal. The smectic-A fluctuations are well characterized by a two-component line shape representing thermal and random-field contributions. An elaboration on this line shape is required to describe the fluctuations in the smectic-C phase; specifically the effect of the tilt on the wave-vector dependence of the thermal fluctuations must be explicitly taken into account. Both the magnitude and the temperature dependence of the smectic-C tilt order parameter are observed to be unaffected by the disorder. This may be a consequence of the large bare smectic correlation length in the direction of modulation for this transition. These results show that the understanding developed for the nematic to smectic-A transition for octylcyanobiphenyl (8CB) and octyloxycyanobiphenyl (8OCB) liquid crystals with quenched disorder can be extended to quite different materials and transitions., Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures

Soft-collinear effective theory is used to prove factorization of the B->gamma+l+nu decay amplitude at leading power in Lambda/m_b, including a demonstration of the absence of non-valence Fock states and of the finiteness of the convolution integral in the factorization formula. Large logarithms entering the hard-scattering kernel are resummed by performing a two-step perturbative matching onto the low-energy effective theory, and by solving evolution equations derived from the renormalization properties of the leading-order B-meson light-cone distribution amplitude. As a byproduct, the evolution equation for heavy-collinear current operators in soft-collinear effective theory is derived., Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures; several references added or updated, extended discussion of the new elements of the factorization proof, typo in eq.(6) fixed; version to appear in Phys. Rev. D

In the heavy-quark limit, the hadronic matrix elements entering nonleptonic $B$-meson decays into two light mesons can be calculated from first principles including ``nonfactorizable'' strong-interaction corrections. The $B\to\pi K,\pi\pi$ decay amplitudes are computed including electroweak penguin contributions, SU(3) violation in the light-cone distribution amplitudes, and an estimate of power corrections from chirally-enhanced terms and annihilation graphs. The results are then used to reduce the theoretical uncertainties in determinations of the weak phases $\gamma$ and $\alpha$. In that way, new constraints in the $(\bar\rho,\bar\eta)$ plane are derived. Predictions for the $B\to\pi K, \pi\pi$ branching ratios and CP asymmetries are also presented. A good global fit to the (in part preliminary) experimental data on the branching fractions is obtained without taking recourse to phenomenological models., Comment: 81 pages, LaTeX

We examine some consequences of the QCD factorization approach to non-leptonic B decays into $\pi K$ and $\pi \pi$ final states, including a set of enhanced power corrections. Among the robust predictions of the approach we find small strong-interaction phases (with one notable exception) and a pattern of CP-averaged branching fractions, which in some cases differ significantly from the current central values reported by the CLEO Collaboration., Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX, Contribution to ICHEP2000, July 27 - August 2, Osaka, Japan, to appear in the Proceedings

We provide a rigorous basis for factorization for a large class of non-leptonic two-body $B$-meson decays in the heavy-quark limit. The factorization formula incorporates elements of the naive factorization approach and the hard-scattering approach, but allows us to compute systematically radiative (``non-factorizable'') corrections to naive factorization for decays such as $B\to D\pi$ and $B\to \pi \pi$. We discuss the factorization formula for a general final state from a general point of view. We then consider factorization for decays into heavy-light final states (such as $B\to D\pi$) in more detail, including a proof of the factorization formula at two-loop order. Explicit results for the leading QCD corrections to factorization are presented and compared to existing measurements of branching fractions and final-state interaction phases., Comment: 112 pages, LaTeX, 30 figures

An analytic result for the O(alpha_s corrections to the triple differential B -> X_u l nu decay rate is presented, to leading order in the heavy-quark expansion. This is relevant for computing partially integrated decay distributions with arbitrary cuts on kinematic variables. Several double and single differential distributions are derived, most of which generalize known results. In particular, an analytic result for the O(alpha_s) corrections to the hadronic invariant mass spectrum is presented. The effects of Fermi motion, which are important for the description of decay spectra close to infrared sensitive regions, are included. The behaviour of perturbation theory in the region of time-like momenta is also investigated, Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, 1 typo in eq.(5.4) corrected; version published in JHEP06(1999)017

We show that, in the heavy quark limit, the hadronic matrix elements that enter $B$ meson decays into two light mesons can be computed from first principles, including `non-factorizable' strong interaction corrections, and expressed in terms of form factors and meson light-cone distribution amplitudes. The conventional factorization result follows in the limit when both power corrections in $1/m_b$ and radiative corrections in $\alpha_s$ are neglected. We compute the order-$\alpha_s$ corrections to the decays $B_d\to\pi^+\pi^-$, $B_d\to\pi^0\pi^0$ and $B^+\to\pi^+\pi^0$ in the heavy quark limit and briefly discuss the phenomenological implications for the branching ratios, strong phases and CP violation., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure

Ring patterns of concentric 2pi-solitons in molecular orientation, form in freely suspended chiral smectic-C films in response to an in-plane rotating electric field. We present measurements of the zero-field relaxation of ring patterns and of the driven dynamics of ring formation under conditions of synchronous winding, and a simple model which enables their quantitative description in low polarization DOBAMBC. In smectic C_A* TFMHPOBC we observe an odd-even layer number effect, with odd number layer films exhibiting order of magnitude slower relaxation rates than even layer films. We show that this rate difference is due to much larger spontaneous polarization in odd number layer films., Comment: 4 RevTeX pgs, 4 eps figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett

A bound on the angle gamma of the unitarity triangle is derived using experimental information on the CP-averaged branching ratios for the rare decays B^+- -> pi^+- K^0 and B^+- -> pi^0 K^+-. The theoretical description is cleaner than the Fleischer-Mannel analysis of the decays B^+- -> pi^+- K^0 and B^0 -> pi^-+ K^+- in that the two decay rates differ only in a single isospin amplitude, which has a simple structure in the SU(3) limit. As a consequence, electroweak penguin contributions and strong rescattering effects can be taken into account in a model-independent way. The resulting bound excludes values of cos(gamma) around 0.6 and is thus largely complementary to indirect constraints derived from a global analysis of the unitarity triangle., Comment: minor corrections, version to appear in Physics Letters B

We present an updated next-to-leading order analysis of the B -> X_s gamma branching ratio and photon spectrum, including consistently the effects of Fermi motion in the heavy-quark expansion. For the Standard Model, we obtain B(B -> X_s gamma) = (2.57+-0.26^{+0.31}_{-0.36}) * 10^{-4} for the integral over the high-energy part of the photon spectrum with E_gamma^{lab} > 2.2 GeV, where the first error reflects the uncertainty in the input parameters, and the second one the uncertainty in the calculation of Fermi motion. This prediction agrees with the CLEO measurement of the same quantity within one standard deviation. From a reanalysis of the CLEO data, we obtain for the total branching ratio B(B -> X_s gamma) = (2.62+-0.60_{exp}^{+0.37}^{-0.30{th}}) * 10^{-4} using the measured rate above 2.2 GeV, and (2.66+-0.56_{exp}^{+0.43}_{-0.48{th}}) * 10^{-4} using a fit to the photon energy spectrum. Both values are consistent with the Standard Model prediction of (3.29+-0.33) * 10^{-4}. Our analysis contains an improved discussion of renormalization scale dependence and QED corrections. We also discuss the sensitivity of the branching ratio and photon spectrum to hadronic parameters such as the b-quark mass, and to possible contributions from New Physics beyond the Standard Model., Comment: 41 pages, 10 figures. QED anomalous dimension matrix corrected, numerical results unchanged, reference added. Version to be published in European Physical Journal

We argue that the observation of a sizable direct CP asymmetry A_{CP} in the inclusive decays B -> X_s gamma would be a clean signal of New Physics. In the Standard Model, A_{CP} can be calculated reliably and is found to be below 1% in magnitude. In extensions of the Standard Model with new CP-violating couplings, large CP asymmetries are possible without conflicting with the experimental value of the branching ratio for the decays B -> X_s gamma. In particular, large asymmetries arise naturally in models with enhanced chromo-magnetic dipole operators. Some generic examples of such models are explored and their implications for the semileptonic branching ratio and charm yield in B decays discussed., Comment: several references added and some numerical results updated to include QED corrections (version to appear in Physical Review D)

Dispersive constraints on the shape of the form factors which describe the exclusive decays B -> D^(*) l nu are derived by fully exploiting spin symmetry in the ground-state doublet of heavy-light mesons. The analysis includes all twenty B^(*) -> D^(*) semileptonic form factors. Heavy-quark symmetry, with both short-distance and 1/m_Q corrections included, is used to provide relations between the form factors near zero recoil. Simple one-parameter functions are derived, which describe the form factors in the semileptonic region with an accuracy of better than 2%. The implications of our results for the determination of |V_cb| are discussed., Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures

The renormalization of local dimension-4 operators containing a heavy and a light quark field at scales below the heavy-quark mass is discussed, using the formalism of the heavy-quark effective theory. The anomalous dimensions of these operators and their mixing are calculated to two-loop order. Some phenomenological applications are briefly discussed., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures

The leading beta_0^(n-1) alpha_s^n terms in the Wilson coefficient and anomalous dimension of the chromomagnetic operator in the heavy-quark effective Lagrangian are summed to all orders of perturbation theory. The perturbation series for the anomalous dimension is well behaved, while that for the Wilson coefficient exhibits a divergent behaviour already in low orders, caused by a nearby infrared renormalon singularity. The resulting ambiguity is commensurate with terms of order 1/m^2 in the effective Lagrangian, whose corresponding ultraviolet renormalons are identified. An excellent approximation for the scheme-invariant Wilson coefficient at next-to-next-to-leading order in renormalization-group improved perturbation theory is obtained., Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures embedded

We find that the anomalous dimension (in the $\bar{MS}$ scheme) of the chromo-magnetic operator $g_s\bar h_v\sigma_{\mu\nu} G^{\mu\nu} h_v$ in the heavy-quark effective theory is \gamma_{mag} = (C_A\alpha_s / 2\pi) [1 + ( 17/18 C_A - 13/18 T_F n_f)\alpha_s/\pi + O(\alpha_s^2)] generalizing the one-loop expression known previously. To derive the two-loop result, we use the reparametrization invariance and the virial theorem. After performing infrared subtractions, all two-loop integrals are of propagator type and are evaluated by a recurrence relation for tensor integrals., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures

We study the renormalization of operators of the type ${\bar h_{v'}} \Gamma G^{\mu\nu} h_v$ in the heavy-quark effective theory (HQET). We construct the combinations of such operators that are renormalized multiplicatively, and calculate their velocity-dependent anomalous dimensions at the one-loop order. We then show that the virial theorem of the HQET is not renormalized, and that in the limit of equal velocities the anomalous dimension of the chromo-electric operator vanishes to all orders in perturbation theory. This implies an exact relation between renormalization constants, which may help in a future calculation of the two-loop anomalous dimension of the chromo-magnetic operator., Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure

We present a model-independent study of spectator effects, which are responsible for the lifetime differences between beauty hadrons. These effects can be parametrized in terms of hadronic matrix elements of four four-quark operators. For $B$ mesons, the coefficients of the non-factorizable operators turn out to be much larger than those of the factorizable ones, limiting considerably the usefulness of the vacuum insertion approximation. Non-factorizable contributions to the lifetime ratio $\tau(B^-)/\tau(B_d)$ could naturally be of order 10--20%, and not even the sign of these contributions can be predicted at present. In the case of the $\Lambda_b$ baryon, heavy-quark symmetry is used to reduce the number of independent matrix elements from four to two. In order to explain the large deviation from unity in the experimental result for $\tau(\Lambda_b)/\tau(B_d)$, it is necessary that these baryon matrix elements be much larger than those estimated in quark models. We have also reexamined the theoretical predictions for the semileptonic branching ratio of $B$ mesons and charm counting, finding that, given the present theoretical and experimental uncertainties, there is no significant discrepancy with experiment., Comment: 32 pages, 5 postscript figures included, revised version to appear in Nuclear Physics B

We study the structure of renormalons in the Heavy Quark Effective Theory, by expanding the heavy quark propagator in powers of $1/m_Q$. We demonstrate that the way in which renormalons appear depends on the regularisation scheme used to define the effective theory. In order to investigate the relation between ultraviolet renormalons and power divergences of matrix elements of higher-dimensional operators in the heavy quark expansion, we perform calculations in dimensional regularisation and in three different cut-off regularisation schemes. In the case of the kinetic energy operator, we find that the leading ultraviolet renormalon which corresponds to a quadratic divergence, is absent in all but one (the lattice) regularisation scheme. The nature of this ``invisible renormalon'' remains unclear., Comment: 20 pages LaTeX, 1 figure available as separate eps file

We report the first observation of the smectic C--smectic I (C--I) critical point by Xray diffraction studies on a binary system. This is in confirmity with the theoretical idea of Nelson and Halperin that coupling to the molecular tilt should induce hexatic order even in the C phase and as such both C and I (a tilted hexatic phase) should have the same symmetry. The results provide evidence in support of the recent theory of Defontaines and Prost proposing a new universality class for critical points in layered systems., Comment: 9 pages Latex and 5 postscript figures available from prasad@rri.ernet.in on request, Phys.Rev.Lett. (in press)

In view of new precise measurements of the $\bar B\to D^*\ell \bar\nu$ decay rate near zero recoil, we reconsider the theoretical uncertainties in the extraction of $| V_{cb}|$ using heavy quark symmetry. In particular, we combine our previous estimate of $1/m_Q^2$ corrections to the normalization of the hadronic form factor at zero recoil with sum rules derived by Shifman {\it et al}. to obtain a new prediction with less theoretical uncertainty. We also summarize the status of the calculation of short-distance corrections, and of the slope of the form factor at zero recoil. We find ${\cal F}(1)=\eta_A \hat\xi(1)=0.93\pm 0.03$ and $\hat\varrho^2=0.7\pm 0.2$. Combining this with the most recent experimental results, we obtain the model-independent value $| V_{cb}|=0.040\pm 0.003$., Comment: 11 pages LaTeX, 2 figures. Revision - minor typographic changes made

In a series of three lectures, I review the theory and phenomenology of heavy quark masses and mixing angles and the status of their determination. In addition, I give an introduction to heavy quark symmetry, with the main emphasis on the development of heavy quark effective field theory and its application to obtain a model-independent determination of $|V_{cb}|$., Comment: (Lectures presented at TASI-93, Boulder, Colorado, 1993), 83 pages, 18 figures available as uu-encoded file, CERN-TH.7225/94

We calculate, in the framework of QCD sum rules and to next-to-leading order in perturbation theory, the universal function $\xi_3(v\cdot v')$ which appears at order $1/m_Q$ in the heavy quark expansion of meson weak decay form factors. We find that radiative corrections of order $\alpha_s$ are very important. Over the kinematic range accessible in semileptonic decays, $\xi_3(v\cdot v')$ is proportional to the leading-order Isgur-Wise function $\xi(v\cdot v')$ to very good accuracy. Taking into account all sources of uncertainty, we estimate $\xi_3/\xi=(0.6\pm 0.2)$. This reduces the theoretical uncertainty in the extraction of $|\,V_{cb}|$ from $\bar B\to D\,\ell\, \bar\nu$ transitions. A measurement of the form factor ratio $A_2/A_1$ in $\bar B\to D^*\ell\,\bar\nu$ decays can be used to test our prediction., Comment: 14 pages (ReVTeX, 2 figures available), SLAC-PUB-6146, WIS-93/33/May-PH