B→K*ℓ+ℓ- decay in soft-collinear effective theory

We study the rare B decay B→K^*ℓ⁺ℓ^- using soft-collinear effective theory (SCET). At leading power in 1/m_b, a factorization formula is obtained valid to all orders in α_s. For phenomenological application, we calculate the decay amplitude including order α_s corrections, and resum the logarithms by evolving the matching coefficients from the hard scale down to the scale . The branching ratio for B→K^*ℓ⁺ℓ^- is uncertain due to the imprecise knowledge of the soft form factors ζ_⊥(q²) and ζ_∥(q²). Constraining the soft form factor ζ_⊥(q²=0) from data on B→K^*γ yields ζ_⊥(q²=0)=0.32±0.02. Using this input, together with the light-cone sum rules to determine the q²-dependence of ζ_⊥(q²) and the other soft form factor ζ_∥(q²), we estimate the partially integrated branching ratio in the range 1 GeV²≤q²≤7 GeV² to be (2.92^+0.67 _-0.61)×10^-7. We discuss how to reduce the form factor related uncertainty by combining data on B→ρ(→ππ)ℓν_ℓ and B→K^*(→Kπ)ℓ⁺ℓ^-. The forward-backward asymmetry is less sensitive to the input parameters. In particular, for the zero-point of the forward-backward asymmetry in the standard model, we get q₀ ²=(4.07^+0.16 _-0.13) GeV². The scale dependence of q₀ ² is discussed in detail. PACS 13.25.Hw, 12.39.St, 12.38.Bx     

Bulk singularities at critical end points: a field-theory analysis

A class of continuum models with a critical end point is considered whose Hamiltonian [φ,ψ] involves two densities: a primary order-parameter field, φ, and a secondary (noncritical) one, ψ. Field-theoretic methods (renormalization group results in conjunction with functional methods) are used to give a systematic derivation of singularities occurring at critical end points. Specifically, the thermal singularity ∼ | t|^{2 - α} of the first-order line on which the disordered or ordered phase coexists with the noncritical spectator phase, and the coexistence singularity ∼ | t|^{1 - α} or ∼ | t|^β of the secondary density <ψ> are derived. It is clarified how the renormalization group (RG) scenario found in position-space RG calculations, in which the critical end point and the critical line are mapped onto two separate fixed points _CEP ^* and _λ ^*, translates into field theory. The critical RG eigenexponents of _CEP ^* and _λ ^* are shown to match. _CEP ^* is demonstrated to have a discontinuity eigenperturbation (with eigenvalue y = d), tangent to the unstable trajectory that emanates from _CEP ^* and leads to _λ ^*. The nature and origin of this eigenperturbation as well as the role redundant operators play are elucidated. The results validate that the critical behavior at the end point is the same as on the critical line. Received 18 January 2001     

Anomalous dynamical light scattering in soft glassy gels

We compute the dynamical structure factor S(q,τ) of an elastic medium where force dipoles appear at random in space and in time, due to “micro-collapses” of the structure. Various regimes are found, depending on the wave vector q and the collapse time θ. In an early time regime, the logarithm of the structure factor behaves as (qτ)^3/2, as predicted in (L. Cipelletti et al., Phys. Rev Lett. 84, 2275 (2000)) using heuristic arguments. However, in an intermediate-time regime we rather obtain a (qτ)^5/4 behaviour. Finally, the asymptotic long-time regime is found to behave as q ^3/2τ. We also give a plausible scenario for aging, in terms of a strain-dependent energy barrier for micro-collapses. The relaxation time is found to grow with the age t_w, quasi-exponentially at first, and then as t _w ^4/5 with logarithmic corrections. Received 15 April 2002     

Anomalous dynamical light scattering in soft glassy gels

We compute the dynamical structure factor S(q,τ) of an elastic medium where force dipoles appear at random in space and in time, due to “micro-collapses” of the structure. Various regimes are found, depending on the wave vector q and the collapse time θ. In an early-time regime, the logarithm of the structure factor behaves as (qτ)^3/2, as predicted in L. Cipelletti, S. Manley, R.C. Ball, D.A. Weitz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2275 (2000) using heuristic arguments. However, in an intermediate-time regime we rather obtain a (qτ)^5/4 behaviour. Finally, the asymptotic long-time regime is found to behave as q ^3/2τ. We also give a plausible scenario for aging, in terms of a strain-dependent energy barrier for micro-collapses. The relaxation time is found to grow with the age t _w, quasi-exponentially at first, and then as t _w ^4/5 with logarithmic corrections. Received 23 July 2001     

Nonlinear dielectric response of antiferroelectric liquid crystals in the smectic Cα * phase

Nonlinear dielectric response of antiferroelectric liquid crystals has been studied in the smectic C_α* (SmC_α*) phase. The linear dielectric spectrum shows a single relaxation of Debye type and its relaxation frequency is as high as one hundred kHz. The profile of the third-order nonlinear dielectric spectrum varies in complex fashion with temperature. In the vicinity of the SmA-SmC_α* phase transition, experimentally obtained nonlinear spectra are well described by those calculated with phenomenological theory of Landau type. The soft mode of the SmC_α* phase shows critical slowing-down near the transition temperature. In the lower-temperature region of the SmC_α* phase, the contribution from the soft mode of the SmC_α* phase reduces and the other relaxation mode with Debye-type spectrum appears at several hundred Hz in the nonlinear spectrum. The appearance of this low-frequency mode suggests that the cooperative fluctuation of directors over long range exists in the SmC_α* phase. Received 19 April 2002 and Received in final form 23 July 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: kimura@exp.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp     

C*-Algebras associated with one dimensional almost periodic tilings

For each irrational number, 0<α<1, we consider the space of one dimensional almost periodic tilings obtained by the projection method using a line of slope α. On this space we put the relation generated by translation and the identification of the “singular pairs”. We represent this as a topological spaceX _α with an equivalence relationR _α. OnR _α there is a natural locally Hausdorff topology from which we obtain a topological groupoid with a Haar system. We then construct the C^*-algebra of this groupoid and show that it is the irrational rotation C^*-algebra,A _α. Research supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences.     

Aeolian transport layer

We investigate the airborne transport of particles on a granular surface by the saltation mechanism through numerical simulation of particle motion coupled with turbulent flow. We determine the saturated flux q(s) and show that its behavior is consistent with classical empirical relations obtained from wind tunnel measurements. Our results also allow one to propose and explain a new relation valid for small fluxes, namely, q(s) = a(u*-u(t))alpha, where u* and u(t) are the shear and threshold velocities of the wind, respectively, and the scaling exponent is alpha approximately 2. We obtain an expression for the velocity profile of the wind distorted by the particle motion due to the feedback and discover a novel dynamical scaling relation. We also find a new expression for the dependence of the height of the saltation layer as a function of the wind velocity.     

Propagator of the Lattice Domain Wall Fermion and the Staggered Fermion

We calculate the propagator of the domain wall fermion (DWF) of the RBC/UKQCD collaboration with 2 + 1 dynamical flavors of 16³ × 32 × 16 lattice in Coulomb gauge, by applying the conjugate gradient method. We find that the fluctuation of the propagator is small when the momenta are taken along the diagonal of the 4-dimensional lattice. Restricting momenta in this momentum region, which is called the cylinder cut, we compare the mass function and the running coupling of the quark-gluon coupling α _s,g1(q) with those of the staggered fermion of the MILC collaboration in Landau gauge. In the case of DWF, the ambiguity of the phase of the wave function is adjusted such that the overlap of the solution of the conjugate gradient method and the plane wave at the source becomes real. The quark-gluon coupling α _s,g1(q) of the DWF in the region q > 1.3 GeV agrees with ghost-gluon coupling α _s (q) that we measured by using the configuration of the MILC collaboration, i.e., enhancement by a factor (1 + c/q ²) with c ≃ 2.8 GeV² on the pQCD result. In the case of staggered fermion, in contrast to the ghost-gluon coupling α _s (q) in Landau gauge which showed infrared suppression, the quark-gluon coupling α _s,g1(q) in the infrared region increases monotonically as q→ 0. Above 2 GeV, the quark-gluon coupling α _s,g1(q) of staggered fermion calculated by naive crossing becomes smaller than that of DWF, probably due to the complex phase of the propagator which is not connected with the low energy physics of the fermion taste. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Semileptonic B<Subscript>s</Subscript>→D<Subscript>sJ</Subscript>(2460)lν decay in QCD

Using three point QCD sum rule methods, the form factors relevant to semileptonic B_s→D_sJ(2460)ℓν decay are calculated. The q² dependences of these form factors are evaluated and compared with the heavy quark effective theory predictions. The dependence of the asymmetry parameter α, characterizing the polarization of the D_sJ meson, on q² is studied. The branching ratio of this decay is also estimated, and it is shown that it can easily be detected at LHC.     

Weak chaos and metastability in a symplectic system of many long-range-coupled standard maps

We introduce, and numerically study, a system of N symplectically and globally coupled standard maps localized in a d=1 lattice array. The global coupling is modulated through a factor r^-α, being r the distance between maps. Thus, interactions are long-range (nonintegrable) when 0≤α≤1, and short-range (integrable) when α>1. We verify that the largest Lyapunov exponent λ_M scales as λ_M ∝ N^-κ(α), where κ(α) is positive when interactions are long-range, yielding weak chaos in the thermodynamic limit N↦∞ (hence λ_M→0). In the short-range case, κ(α) appears to vanish, and the behaviour corresponds to strong chaos. We show that, for certain values of the control parameters of the system, long-lasting metastable states can be present. Their duration t_c scales as t_c ∝N^β(α), where β(α) appears to be numerically in agreement with the following behavior: β>0 for 0 ≤α< 1, and zero for α≥1. These results are consistent with features typically found in nonextensive statistical mechanics. Moreover, they exhibit strong similarity between the present discrete-time system, and the α-XY Hamiltonian ferromagnetic model.     

The effect of electrostatic force on the evolution of sand saltation cloud

In a wind-blown sand layer, it has been found that wind transport of particles is always associated with separation of electric charge. This electrification in turn produces some electrostatic forces in addition to the gravitational and fluid friction forces that affect the movement of saltating sand particles, further, the wind-blown sand saltation. To evaluate this effect quantitatively, this paper presents a simulation of evolution of wind-blown sand grains after the electrostatic forces exerted on the grains are taken into account in the wind feedback mechanism of wind-blown saltation. That is, the coupling interaction between the wind flow and the saltating sand particles is employed in the simulation to the non-stationary wind and sand flows when considering fluid drag, gravitation, and a kind of electrostatic force generated from a distribution of electric field changing with time in the evolution process of the sand saltation. On the basis of the proposed simulation model, a numerical program is given to perform the simulation of this dynamic process and some characteristic quantities, e.g., duration of the system to reach the steady state, and curves of the saltating grain number, grain transport rate, mass-flux profile, and wind profile varying with time during the non-stationary evolution are displayed. The obtained numerical results exhibit that the electrostatic force is closely related to the average charge-to-mass ratio of sand particles and has obvious influence on these characteristic quantities. The obtained results also show that the duration of the system to reach the steady state, the sand transport rate and the mass flux profile coincide well with experimental results by Shao and Raupach (1992) when the average charge-to-mass ratio of sand particles is 60 μC/kg for the sand particles with average diameter of 0.25 mm. When the average charge-to-mass ratios of sand particles are taken as some other certain values, the calculation results still show that the mass flux profiles are well in agreement with the experimental data by Rasmussen and Mikkelsen (1998) for another category of sand particles, which tell us that the electrostatic force is one of main factors that have to be considered in the research of mechanism of wind-blown sand saltation.     

Polarized pK<Superscript>-</Superscript> scattering in Unitary Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory

We study pK^- scattering in the energy range from threshold through the L \Lambda(1520) peak in UBChPT, taking into account O(q) vertices from meson-baryon contact interactions and s - and u -channel ground-state baryon exchange, s - and u -channel decuplet- and nonet-baryon exchange and t -channel vector-meson exchange, as well as O(q ²) flavor-breaking vertices. Detailed fits to data are presented, including a substantial body of differential cross-section data with meson momentum q _lab > 300 MeV not considered in previous treatments.     

On the Large Time Asymptotics¶of Decaying Burgers Turbulence

The decay of Burgers turbulence with compactly supported Gaussian “white noise” initial conditions is studied in the limit of vanishing viscosity and large time. Probability distribution functions and moments for both velocities and velocity differences are computed exactly, together with the “time-like” structure functions T _n (t,τ)≡< (u(t+τ) -u(t)) ⁿ >. The analysis of the answers reveals both well known features of Burgers turbulence, such as the presence of dissipative anomaly, the extreme anomalous scaling of the velocity structure functions and self similarity of the statistics of the velocity field, and new features such as the extreme anomalous scaling of the “time-like” structure functions and the non-existence of a global inertial scale due to multiscaling of the Burgers velocity field. We also observe that all the results can be recovered using the one point probability distribution function of the shock strength and discuss the implications of this fact for Burgers turbulence in general. Received: 4 October 1999 / Accepted: 4 February 2000     

Launch velocity characteristics of non-uniform sand in aeolian saltation

A numerical model for the vertical profile of aeolian mass flux was established based on the launch velocity probability distribution of saltating sand particles. The mean launch velocity () was used as a primary variable in the simulation, from which the average saltation height and length could be further calculated. The results showed that the mean launch velocity, the average saltation height, and the average saltation length increased with increasing wind friction velocity (u∗), although the increases for the first two were not significant. On the other hand, the relative mean launch velocity () was found to decrease with increasing wind friction velocity. Other interesting results were obtained from the simulation: both and decreased with an increase in the sand grain size, which agreed with a previous report claiming that the launch velocity was limited by the inertia of bed grains. Furthermore, decreasing dependence of the average saltation height and length was also found with increasing sand grain size. Overall, the sand grain size was of significance to the determination of probability distribution of the launch velocity and thus the saltation characteristics.     

A QCD motivated model for soft interactions at high energies

In this paper we develop an approach to soft scattering processes at high energies which is based on two elements: the Good–Walker mechanism for low mass diffraction and multi-pomeron interactions for high mass diffraction. The principal idea, which allows us to specify the theory for pomeron interactions, is that the so called soft processes occur at rather short distances (r ² ∝1/〈p _t 〉² ∝ α′_ℙ≈0.01 GeV⁻²), where perturbative QCD is valid. The value of the pomeron slope α′_ℙ is obtained from a fit to the experimental data. Using this theoretical approach, we suggest a model that fits all soft data in the ISR-Tevatron energy range: total, elastic, single and double diffractive cross sections, as well as the t dependence of the differential elastic cross section, and the mass dependence of single diffraction. In this model we calculate the survival probability of diffractive Higgs production, and we obtain a value for this observable that is smaller than 1% at the LHC energy range.     

Probing the interactions of charmed mesons with nuclei in ¯p-induced reactions

We study the perspectives of resonant and nonresonant charmed-meson production in ˉp + A reactions within the Multiple Scattering Monte Carlo (MSMC) approach. We calculate the production of the resonances Ψ(3770),Ψ(4040) and Ψ(4160) on various nuclei, their propagation and decay to D,ˉD, D ^*,ˉD^*, D _s,ˉD_s in the medium and vacuum, respectively. The modifications of the open charm vector mesons in the nuclear medium are found to be rather moderate or even small such that dilepton spectroscopy will require an invariant mass resolution of a few MeV. Furthermore, the elastic and inelastic interactions of the open charm mesons in the medium are taken into account, which can be related to (u, d )-, s- or c-quark exchange with nucleons. It is found that by studying the D/ˉD ratio for low momenta in the laboratory ( ? 2 - 2.2 GeV/c) as a function of the target mass A stringent constraints on the c-quark exchange cross-section can be obtained. On the other hand, the ratios D ^- _s/D ⁺ _s as well as D/D ^- _s and D/D ⁺ _s at low momenta as a function of A will permit to fix independently the strength of the s-quark exchange reaction in D ^- _s N scattering. Received: 1 March 2002 / Accepted: 21 March 2002     

Non-linear scission/recombination kinetics of living polymerization

Living polymers are formed by reversible association of primary units (unimers). Generally the chain statistical weight involves a factor σ < 1 suppressing short chains in comparison with free unimers. Living polymerization is a sharp thermodynamic transition for σ ≪ 1 which is typically the case. We show that this sharpness has an important effect on the kinetics of living polymerization (one-dimensional association). The kinetic model involves i) the unimer activation step (a transition to an assembly-competent state); ii) the scission/recombination processes providing growth of polymer chains and relaxation of their length distribution. Analyzing the polymerization with no chains but unimers at t = 0 , with initial concentration of unimers M ≳ M ^* (M^* is the critical polymerization concentration), we determine the time evolution of the chain length distribution and find that: 1) for M ^* ≪ M ≪ M ^*/σ the kinetics is characterized by 5 distinct time stages demarcated by 4 characteristic times t₁, t₂, t₃ and t^*; 2) there are transient regimes (t ₁ ≲ t ≲ t ₃) when the molecular-weight distribution is strongly non-exponential; 3) the chain scissions are negligible at times shorter than t₂. The chain growth is auto-accelerated for t ₁ ≲ t ≲ t ₂ : the cut-off chain length (= polymerization degree 〈n〉_w N ₁ ∝ t ² in this regime. 4) For t ₂ < t < t ₃ the length distribution is characterized by essentially 2 non-linear modes; the shorter cut-off length N₁ is decreasing with time in this regime, while the length scale N₂ of the second mode is increasing. (5) The terminal relaxation time of the polymer length distribution, t^*, shows a sharp maximum in the vicinity of M^*; the effective exponent is as high as ∼ σ^-1/3 just above M^*.     

Thermal expansion of thin C60 films

The thermal expansion coefficient a and structure of C₆₀ films with thickness t∼3–10 nm were investigated in the temperature interval from room to liquid-nitrogen temperature by electron-optical methods. The thermal expansion coefficient was determined from the temperature shift of the diffraction maxima in the electron diffraction patterns. The objects of investigation were epitaxial C₆₀ films condensed in vacuum on a (100) NaCl cleavage surface and oriented in the (111) plane. A surface-induced size effect in the thermal expansion coefficient was observed. It was established that as t decreases α _f increases and is described well by the relation α _f=17·10⁻⁶ K⁻¹+8.3·10⁻⁵ nm K⁻¹ t ⁻¹. This relation was used to estimate the linear expansion coefficient α _s of the C₆₀ surface in the (111) plane as α _s=60·10⁻⁶K⁻¹, which is several times larger than the bulk value. The experimental results agree satisfactorily with the theoretical calculations of the mean-square displacements of molecules located in a region near the surface. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 114, 1868–1875 (November 1998)     

Sufficient condition for the existence of an inertial manifold for a hyperbolic equation with weak and strong dissipation

In the paper, sufficient conditions for the existence of an inertial manifold for the equation u _tt + 2γ _w u _t − 2γ _s Δu _t − Δu = f(u) + g(u _t) are obtained. The nonlinear functions f and g are assumed to have the Lipschitz property.     

Statistical regularities in the return intervals of volatility

We discuss recent results concerning statistical regularities in the return intervals of volatility in financial markets. In particular, we show how the analysis of volatility return intervals, defined as the time between two volatilities larger than a given threshold, can help to get a better understanding of the behavior of financial time series. We find scaling in the distribution of return intervals for thresholds ranging over a factor of 25, from 0.6 to 15 standard deviations, and also for various time windows from one minute up to 390 min (an entire trading day). Moreover, these results are universal for different stocks, commodities, interest rates as well as currencies. We also analyze the memory in the return intervals which relates to the memory in the volatility and find two scaling regimes, ℓ<ℓ^* with α₁=0.64±0.02 and ℓ> ℓ^* with α₂=0.92±0.04; these exponent values are similar to results of Liu et al. for the volatility. As an application, we use the scaling and memory properties of the return intervals to suggest a possibly useful method for estimating risk.