Coupled channels dynamics in the generation of the $$\Omega (2012)$$ resonance

We look into the newly observed \(\Omega (2012)\) state from the molecular perspective in which the resonance is generated from the \(\bar{K} \Xi ^*\), \(\eta \Omega \) and \(\bar{K} \Xi \) channels. We find that this picture provides a natural explanation of the properties of the \(\Omega (2012)\) state. We stress that the molecular nature of the resonance is revealed with a large coupling of the \(\Omega (2012)\) to the \(\bar{K} \Xi ^*\) channel, that can be observed in the \(\Omega (2012) \rightarrow \bar{K} \pi \Xi \) decay which is incorporated automatically in our chiral unitary approach via the use of the spectral function of \(\Xi ^*\) in the evaluation of the \(\bar{K} \Xi ^*\) loop function.     

$$\bar K$$ optical potential at finite temperatureoptical potential at finite temperature

The \(\bar K\) optical potential is microscopically calculated from the \(\bar K\)N effective interaction in nuclear matter at T=0 and finite temperature, with the aim to adapt our calculations to the experimental conditions in heavy-ion collisions. In the rank of densities (0-2_ρ0), the finite temperature \(\bar K\) optical potential shows a smoother behaviour compared to the T=0 case. The model has also been applied to the study of the ratio between K⁺ and K^? produced at GSI with T around 70 MeV. The results point at the necessity of introducing an attractive \(\bar K\) optical potential.     

Lepton polarization asymmetries in rare semi-tauonic $$ b \rightarrow s $$ exclusive decays at FCC- ee

We consider measurements of exclusive rare semi-tauonic b-hadron decays, mediated by the \(b \rightarrow s \tau ^+ \tau ^-\) transition, at a future high-energy circular electron–positron collider (FCC-ee). We argue that the high boosts of b-hadrons originating from on-shell Z boson decays allow for a full reconstruction of the decay kinematics in hadronic \(\tau \) decay modes (up to discrete ambiguities). This, together with the potentially large statistics of \(Z\rightarrow b\bar{b}\), opens the door for the experimental determination of \(\tau \) polarizations in these rare b-hadron decays. In the light of the current experimental situation on lepton flavor universality in rare semileptonic B decays, we discuss the complementary short-distance physics information carried by the \(\tau \) polarizations and suggest suitable theoretically clean observables in the form of single- and double-\(\tau \) polarization asymmetries.     

Study of the weak annihilation contributions in charmless $$\varvec{B_s\rightarrow VV}$$ decays

In this paper, in order to probe the spectator-scattering and weak annihilation contributions in charmless \(B_s\rightarrow VV\) (where V stands for a light vector meson) decays, we perform the \(\chi ^2\)-analyses for the endpoint parameters within the QCD factorization framework, under the constraints from the measured \(\bar{B}_{s}\rightarrow \) \(\rho ^0\phi \), \(\phi K^{*0}\), \(\phi \phi \) and \(K^{*0}\bar{K}^{*0}\) decays. The fitted results indicate that the endpoint parameters in the factorizable and nonfactorizable annihilation topologies are non-universal, which is also favored by the charmless \(B\rightarrow PP\) and PV (where P stands for a light pseudo-scalar meson) decays observed in previous work. Moreover, the abnormal polarization fractions \(f_{L,\bot }(\bar{B}_{s}\rightarrow K^{*0}\bar{K}^{*0})=(20.1\pm 7.0)\%,(58.4\pm 8.5)\%\) measured by the LHCb collaboration can be reconciled through the weak annihilation corrections. However, the branching ratio of \(\bar{B}_{s}\rightarrow \phi K^{*0}\) decay exhibits a tension between the data and theoretical result, which dominates the contributions to \(\chi _\mathrm{min}^2\) in the fits. Using the fitted endpoint parameters, we update the theoretical results for the charmless \(B_s\rightarrow VV\) decays, which will be further tested by the LHCb and Belle-II experiments in the near future.     

Process $$\gamma \gamma \to \nu \bar \nu$$ in a strong magnetic field

The three-vertex loop amplitude in a strong magnetic field are analyzed in a general form by using the asymptotic behavior of the electron propagator in an external field. The process \(\gamma \gamma \to \nu \bar \nu\) is studied in terms of the scalar-vector-vector (SVV), pseudoscalar-vector-vector (PVV), vector-vector-vector (VVV), and axial-vector-vector-vector (AVV) combinations of couplings. It is shown that only in the case of the SVV combination does the amplitude grow linearly with increasing magnetic-field strength, the amplitudes evaluated with the other combinations of couplings (PVV, VVV, and AVV) featuring no linearly increasing terms. The process \(\gamma \gamma \to \nu \bar \nu\) is also studied within the left-right model, which is an extension of the Standard Model of electroweak interactions and which may involve an effective scalar ννee coupling. Possible astrophysical manifestations of this process are discussed.     

The decays of $$\bar{B}^0$$, $$\bar{B}^0_s$$B¯s0 and $$B^-$$B- into $$\eta _c$$ηc plus a scalar or vector meson

We investigate the decays of \(\bar{B}^0_s\), \(\bar{B}^0\) and \(B^-\) into \(\eta _c\) plus a scalar or vector meson in a theoretical framework by taking into account the dominant process for the weak decay of \(\bar{B}\) meson into \(\eta _c\) and a \(q\bar{q}\) pair. After hadronization of this \(q\bar{q}\) component into pairs of pseudoscalar mesons we obtain certain weights for the pseudoscalar meson-pseudoscalar meson components. In addition, the \(\bar{B}^0\) and \(\bar{B}^0_s\) decays into \(\eta _c\) and \(\rho ^0\), \(K^*\) are evaluated and compared to the \(\eta _c\) and \(\phi \) production. The calculation is based on the postulation that the scalar mesons \(f_0(500)\), \(f_0(980)\) and \(a_0(980)\) are dynamically generated states from the pseudoscalar meson-pseudoscalar meson interactions in S-wave. Up to a global normalization factor, the \(\pi \pi \), \(K \bar{K}\) and \(\pi \eta \) invariant mass distributions for the decays of \(\bar{B}^0_s \rightarrow \eta _c \pi ^+ \pi ^-\), \(\bar{B}^0_s \rightarrow \eta _c K^+ K^-\), \(\bar{B}^0 \rightarrow \eta _c \pi ^+ \pi ^-\), \(\bar{B}^0 \rightarrow \eta _c K^+ K^-\), \(\bar{B}^0 \rightarrow \eta _c \pi ^0 \eta \), \(B^- \rightarrow \eta _c K^0 K^-\) and \(B^- \rightarrow \eta _c \pi ^- \eta \) are predicted. Comparison is made with the limited experimental information available and other theoretical calcualtions. Further comparison of these results with coming LHCb measurements will be very valuable to make progress in our understanding of the nature of the low lying scalar mesons, \(f_0(500), f_0(980)\) and \(a_0(980)\).     

$$\varvec{B^0\rightarrow K^{*0}\mu ^+\mu ^-}$$ decay in the aligned two-Higgs-doublet model

In the aligned two-Higgs-doublet model, we perform a complete one-loop computation of the short-distance Wilson coefficients \(C_{7,9,10}^{(\prime )}\), which are the most relevant ones for \(b\rightarrow s\ell ^+\ell ^-\) transitions. It is found that, when the model parameter \(\left| \varsigma _{u}\right| \) is much smaller than \(\left| \varsigma _{d}\right| \), the charged scalar contributes mainly to chirality-flipped \(C_{9,10}^\prime \), with the corresponding effects being proportional to \(\left| \varsigma _{d}\right| ^2\). Numerically, the charged-scalar effects fit into two categories: (A) \(C_{7,9,10}^\mathrm {H^\pm }\) are sizable, but \(C_{9,10}^{\prime \mathrm {H^\pm }}\simeq 0\), corresponding to the (large \(\left| \varsigma _{u}\right| \), small \(\left| \varsigma _{d}\right| \)) region; (B) \(C_7^\mathrm {H^\pm }\) and \(C_{9,10}^{\prime \mathrm {H^\pm }}\) are sizable, but \(C_{9,10}^\mathrm {H^\pm }\simeq 0\), corresponding to the (small \(\left| \varsigma _{u}\right| \), large \(\left| \varsigma _{d}\right| \)) region. Taking into account phenomenological constraints from the inclusive radiative decay \(B\rightarrow X_{s}{\gamma }\), as well as the latest model-independent global analysis of \(b\rightarrow s\ell ^+\ell ^-\) data, we obtain the much restricted parameter space of the model. We then study the impact of the allowed model parameters on the angular observables \(P_2\) and \(P_5'\) of \(B^0\rightarrow K^{*0}\mu ^+\mu ^-\) decay, and we find that \(P_5'\) could be increased significantly to be consistent with the experimental data in case B.     

Predictions for $$\Xi _b^- \rightarrow \pi ^- (D_s^- ) \ \Xi _c^0 (2790) \left( \Xi _c^0 (2815) \right) $$ and $$\Xi _b^- \rightarrow \bar{\nu }_l l \ \Xi _c^0 (2790) \left( \Xi _c^0 (2815) \right) $$Ξb-→ν¯llΞc0(2790)Ξc0(2815)

We have performed calculations for the nonleptonic \(\Xi _b^- \rightarrow \pi ^- \ \Xi _c^0 (2790) \left( J=\frac{1}{2}\right) \) and \(\Xi _b^- \rightarrow \pi ^- \ \Xi _c^0 (2815) \left( J=\frac{3}{2}\right) \) decays and the same reactions replacing the \(\pi ^-\) by a \(D_s^-\). At the same time we have also evaluated the semileptonic rates for \(\Xi _b^- \rightarrow \bar{\nu }_l l \ \Xi _c^0 (2790)\) and \(\Xi _b^- \rightarrow \bar{\nu }_l l \ \Xi _c^0 (2815)\). We look at the reactions from the perspective that the \(\Xi _c^0 (2790)\) and \(\Xi _c^0 (2815)\) resonances are dynamically generated from the pseudoscalar–baryon and vector–baryon interactions. We evaluate ratios of the rates of these reactions and make predictions that can be tested in future experiments. We also find that the results are rather sensitive to the coupling of the \(\Xi _c^*\) resonances to the \(D^* \Sigma \) and \(D^* \Lambda \) components.     

Fully constrained Majorana neutrino mass matrices using $$\varvec{\varSigma (72\times 3)}$$

In 2002, two neutrino mixing ansatze having trimaximally mixed middle (\(\nu _2\)) columns, namely tri-chi-maximal mixing (\(\text {T}\chi \text {M}\)) and tri-phi-maximal mixing (\(\text {T}\phi \text {M}\)), were proposed. In 2012, it was shown that \(\text {T}\chi \text {M}\) with \(\chi =\pm \,\frac{\pi }{16}\) as well as \(\text {T}\phi \text {M}\) with \(\phi = \pm \,\frac{\pi }{16}\) leads to the solution, \(\sin ^2 \theta _{13} = \frac{2}{3} \sin ^2 \frac{\pi }{16}\), consistent with the latest measurements of the reactor mixing angle, \(\theta _{13}\). To obtain \(\text {T}\chi \text {M}_{(\chi =\pm \,\frac{\pi }{16})}\) and \(\text {T}\phi \text {M}_{(\phi =\pm \,\frac{\pi }{16})}\), the type I see-saw framework with fully constrained Majorana neutrino mass matrices was utilised. These mass matrices also resulted in the neutrino mass ratios, \(m_1:m_2:m_3=\frac{\left( 2+\sqrt{2}\right) }{1+\sqrt{2(2+\sqrt{2})}}:1:\frac{\left( 2+\sqrt{2}\right) }{-1+\sqrt{2(2+\sqrt{2})}}\). In this paper we construct a flavour model based on the discrete group \(\varSigma (72\times 3)\) and obtain the aforementioned results. A Majorana neutrino mass matrix (a symmetric \(3\times 3\) matrix with six complex degrees of freedom) is conveniently mapped into a flavon field transforming as the complex six-dimensional representation of \(\varSigma (72\times 3)\). Specific vacuum alignments of the flavons are used to arrive at the desired mass matrices.     

Nature of the $$\Omega (2012)$$ through its strong decays

We extend our previous analysis on the mass of the recently discovered \(\Omega (2012)\) state by investigation of its strong decays and calculation of its width employing the method of light cone QCD sum rule. Considering two possibilities for the quantum numbers of \(\Omega (2012)\) state, namely 1P orbital excitation with \(J^P=\frac{3}{2}^-\) and 2S radial excitation with \(J^P=\frac{3}{2}^+\), we obtain the strong coupling constants defining the \(\Omega (1P/2S)\rightarrow \Xi K\) decays. The results of the coupling constants are then used to calculate the decay width corresponding to each possibility. Comparison of the obtained results on the total widths in this work with the experimental value and taking into account the results of our previous mass prediction on the \(\Omega (2012)\) state, we conclude that this state is 1P orbital excitation of the ground state \(\Omega \) baryon, whose quantum numbers are \(J^P=\frac{3}{2}^-\).     

Further studies on the exclusive productions of $$J/\psi +\chi _{cJ}$$ ($$J=0,1,2$$J=0,1,2) via $$e^+e^-$$e+e- annihilation at the B factories

By including the interference effect between the QCD and the QED diagrams, we carry out a complete analysis on the exclusive productions of \(e^+e^- \rightarrow J/\psi +\chi _{cJ}\) (\(J=0,1,2\)) at the B factories with \(\sqrt{s}=10.6\) GeV at the next-to-leading-order (NLO) level in \(\alpha _s\), within the nonrelativistic QCD framework. It is found that the \({\mathcal {O}} (\alpha ^3\alpha _s)\)-order terms that represent the tree-level interference are comparable with the usual NLO QCD corrections, especially for the \(\chi _{c1}\) and \(\chi _{c2}\) cases. To explore the effect of the higher-order terms, namely \({\mathcal {O}} (\alpha ^3\alpha _s^2)\), we perform the QCD corrections to these \({\mathcal {O}} (\alpha ^3\alpha _s)\)-order terms for the first time, which are found to be able to significantly influence the \({\mathcal {O}} (\alpha ^3\alpha _s)\)-order results. In particular, in the case of \(\chi _{c1}\) and \(\chi _{c2}\), the newly calculated \({\mathcal {O}} (\alpha ^3\alpha _s^2)\)-order terms can to a large extent counteract the \({\mathcal {O}} (\alpha ^3\alpha _s)\) contributions, evidently indicating the indispensability of the corrections. In addition, we find that, as the collision energy rises, the percentage of the interference effect in the total cross section will increase rapidly, especially for the \(\chi _{c1}\) case.     

Exotic tetraquark states with the $$qq\bar{Q}\bar{Q}$$ configuration

In this work, we study systematically the mass splittings of the \(qq\bar{Q}\bar{Q}\) (\(q=u\), d, s and \(Q=c\), b) tetraquark states with the color-magnetic interaction by considering color mixing effects and estimate roughly their masses. We find that the color mixing effect is relatively important for the \(J^P=0^+\) states and possible stable tetraquarks exist in the \(nn\bar{Q}\bar{Q}\) (\(n=u\), d) and \(ns\bar{Q}\bar{Q}\) systems either with \(J=0\) or with \(J=1\). Possible decay patterns of the tetraquarks are briefly discussed.     

Equilibration in the Kac Model Using the GTW Metric $$d_2$$

We use the Fourier based Gabetta–Toscani–Wennberg metric \(d_2\) to study the rate of convergence to equilibrium for the Kac model in 1 dimension. We take the initial velocity distribution of the particles to be a Borel probability measure \(\mu \) on \(\mathbb {R}^n\) that is symmetric in all its variables, has mean \(\vec {0}\) and finite second moment. Let \(\mu _t(dv)\) denote the Kac-evolved distribution at time t, and let \(R_\mu \) be the angular average of \(\mu \). We give an upper bound to \(d_2(\mu _t, R_\mu )\) of the form \(\min \left\{ B e^{-\frac{4 \lambda _1}{n+3}t}, d_2(\mu ,R_\mu )\right\} ,\) where \(\lambda _1 = \frac{n+2}{2(n-1)}\) is the gap of the Kac model in \(L^2\) and B depends only on the second moment of \(\mu \). We also construct a family of Schwartz probability densities \(\{f_0^{(n)}: \mathbb {R}^n\rightarrow \mathbb {R}\}\) with finite second moments that shows practically no decrease in \(d_2(f_0(t), R_{f_0})\) for time at least \(\frac{1}{2\lambda }\) with \(\lambda \) the rate of the Kac operator. We also present a propagation of chaos result for the partially thermostated Kac model in Tossounian and Vaidyanathan (J Math Phys 56(8):083301, 2015).     

Two-Higgs-doublet type-II and -III models and $$t\rightarrow c h$$ at the LHC

We study the constraints of the generic two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM) type-III and the impacts of the new Yukawa couplings. For comparisons, we revisit the analysis in the 2HDM type-II. To understand the influence of all involving free parameters and to realize their correlations, we employ a \(\chi \)-square fitting approach by including theoretical and experimental constraints, such as the S, T, and U oblique parameters, the production of standard model Higgs and its decay to \(\gamma \gamma \), \(WW^*/ZZ^*\), \(\tau ^+\tau ^-\), etc. The errors of the analysis are taken at 68, 95.5, and \(99.7~\%\) confidence levels. Due to the new Yukawa couplings being associated with \(\cos (\beta -\alpha )\) and \(\sin (\beta -\alpha )\), we find that the allowed regions for \(\sin \alpha \) and \(\tan \beta \) in the type-III model can be broader when the dictated parameter \(\chi _F\) is positive; however, for negative \(\chi _F\), the limits are stricter than those in the type-II model. By using the constrained parameters, we find that the deviation from the SM in \(h\rightarrow Z\gamma \) can be of \(\mathcal{O}(10~\%)\). Additionally, we also study the top-quark flavor-changing processes induced at the tree level in the type-III model and find that when all current experimental data are considered, we get \(Br(t\rightarrow c(h, H) )< 10^{-3}\) for \(m_h=125.36\) and \(m_H=150\) GeV, and \(Br(t\rightarrow cA)\) slightly exceeds \(10^{-3}\) for \(m_A =130\) GeV.     

New physics effects in charm meson decays involving $$c \rightarrow u l^+ l^- (l_i^{\mp } l_j^{\,\pm \,})$$ transitions

We study the effect of the scalar leptoquark and \(Z^\prime \) boson on the rare decays of the D mesons involving flavour changing transitions \(c \rightarrow u l^+ l^- (l^{\mp }_i l^{\,\pm \,}_j)\). We constrain the new physics parameter space using the branching ratio of the rare decay mode \(D^0 \rightarrow \mu ^+ \mu ^-\) and the \(D^0 - {\bar{D}}^0\) oscillation data. We compute the branching ratios, forward–backward asymmetry parameters and flat terms in \(D^{+(0)} \rightarrow \pi ^{+(0)} \mu ^+ \mu ^-\) processes using the constrained parameters. The branching ratios of the lepton flavour violating D meson decays, such as \(D^0 \rightarrow \mu e, ~\tau e\) and \(D^{+(0)} \rightarrow \pi ^{+(0)} \mu ^- e^+\) are also investigated.     

Continuum mixing and coupled channel effects inc\bar c andb\bar b quarkonium

We apply the unitarized quark model to heavy \(c\bar c\) and \(b\bar b\) quarkonium and study mass shifts and mixings induced by hadronic coupled channel effects. In particular, we study the two-meson continuum mixing in the quarkonium wave functions. It is found that the continuum component is 2–20% in the \(c\bar c\) and \(b\bar b\) states, measured as the squared sum of two-meson amplitudes \((D\bar D,D\bar D^ * + cc,D^ * \bar D^ * ,F\bar F,F\bar F^ * + cc,F^ * \bar F^ * for c\bar c)\) . It is the largest for states near or above the first threshold. These continuum mixings reduce the predicted radiative widths by 5–30%. The mass shifts of theP andF wave \(q\bar q\) states are similar to those ofS andD wave states previously studied. The computed resonance mixing matrices are explicitly given, enabling future calculations of relativistic effects, QCD effects, etc., to include also the coupled channel effects.     

Quark-mass dependence in $$\omega \rightarrow 3\pi $$ decays

We study the quark-mass dependence of \(\omega \rightarrow 3\pi \) decays, based on a dispersion-theoretical framework. We rely on the quark-mass-dependent scattering phase shift for the pion–pion P-wave extracted from unitarized chiral perturbation theory. The dispersive representation then takes into account the final-state rescattering among all three pions. The described formalism may be used as an extrapolation tool for lattice QCD calculations of three-pion decays, for which \(\omega \rightarrow 3\pi \) can serve as a paradigm case.     

Rare $$\Lambda _c\rightarrow p \ell ^+\ell ^-$$ decay in the relativistic quark model

The relativistic quark model based on the quasipotential approach with the QCD-motivate potential is employed for the calculation of the form factors of the \(\Lambda _c\rightarrow p\) rare weak transitions. Their momentum dependence is explicitly determined without additional assumptions and extrapolations in the whole kinematical range of the momentum transfer squared \(q^2\). The differential \(\Lambda _c\rightarrow p l^+l^-\) decay branching fractions and angular distributions are calculated on the basis of these form factors. Both the perturbative and effective Wilson coefficients, which include contributions of vector meson resonances, are used. The calculated branching fraction of the \(\Lambda _c\rightarrow p \mu ^+\mu ^-\) rare decay is well consistent with the experimental upper limit very recently set by the LHCb Collaboration.     

Discrete One-Dimensional Coverage Process on a Renewal Process

Consider the following coverage model on \(\mathbb {N}\), for each site \(i \in \mathbb {N}\) associate a pair \((\xi _i, R_i)\) where \((\xi _i)_{i \ge 0}\) is a 1-dimensional undelayed discrete renewal point process and \((R_i)_{i \ge 0}\) is an i.i.d. sequence of \(\mathbb {N}\)-valued random variables. At each site where \(\xi _i=1\) start an interval of length \(R_i\). Coverage occurs if every site of \(\mathbb {N}\) is covered by some interval. We obtain sharp conditions for both, positive and null probability of coverage. As corollaries, we extend results of the literature of rumor processes and discrete one-dimensional Boolean percolation.