Measurement of cross sections for processes involving <Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>−</Superscript> annihilation to hadrons at the VEPP-2M collider

Results obtained by measuring, in experiments at the VEPP-2M e ⁺ e ^? collider with the CMD-2 and SND detectors at the Novosibirsk Institute of Nuclear Physics, cross sections for e ⁺ e ^? → hadrons annihilation processes at energies in the range 360 ≤ √s ≤ 1380 MeV are surveyed. The measured cross sections and the vector-meson parameters deduced from an analysis of these cross sections are presented. The cross section for the process e ⁺ e ^? → π ⁺ π ^? is compared with the spectral function for the decay τ ^? → π ^? π ⁰ ν _τ.     

37 Years with the light scalar mesons. The learned lessons

Attention is paid to the production mechanisms of light scalars that reveal their nature. We reveal the chiral shielding of the σ(600) meson. We show that the kaon loop mechanism of the ? radiative decays, ratified by experiment, is four-quark transition and points to the four-quark nature of light scalars. We show also that the light scalars are produced in the two photon collisions via four-quark transitions in contrast to the classic P wave tensor qq? mesons that are produced via two-quark transitions γγ → qq?. We study the mechanism of production of the light scalar mesons in the D _s ⁺ → π⁺π^? e ⁺ν decays: D _s ⁺ → ss?e ⁺ν → [σ(600) + f ₀(980)]e ⁺ν → π⁺π^? e ⁺ν, and compare it with the mechanism of production of the light pseudoscalar mesons in the D _s ⁺ → (η/η′)e ⁺ν decays: D _s ⁺ → ss?e ⁺ν → (η/η′)e ⁺ν. As a result we find support to four-quark nature of light scalars. In the end, we outline the future research program.     

Investigation of Rare Pion Decays with the PIBETA Spectrometer

Experimental results on pion decays obtained with the PIBETA spectrometer at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) are reviewed. For pion beta decay π⁺ → π⁰е⁺ν (πβ), a precision measurement of relative probability yields Г(πβ) = [1.036 ± 0.004(stat) ± 0.004(syst) ± 0.003(π⁺→е⁺ν)] × 10^–8, which implies V_ud = 0.9728(30) for the corresponding element of the Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa mixing matrix. Using a sample of 65 × 10³ events, relative probability of the π⁺→е⁺νγ radiative pion decay (RPD) in the kinematic region of E_γ > 10 MeV and θ_eγ > 40° is measured as B^exp = 73.86(54) × 10^–8. A statistical analysis of measured E_e+ and E_γ distributions for this decay yield the values F_V = 0.0258(17) and F_A = 0.0117(17) for the pion weak formfactors. Assuming that F_V linearly depends on the е⁺ν invariant mass q² as F_V(q²) = F_V(0)(1 + aq²), the slope parameter is extracted as а = 0.10(6). The pion polarizability and neutral-pion lifetime are estimated as α_E = 2.78(10) × 10^–4 fm³ and τ(π⁰) = (8.5 ± 1.1) × 10^–17 s, respectively. The data for decays π⁺→ е⁺ ν and \({\mu ^ + } \to {e^ + }v\bar v\gamma \) have been collected and are being processed. The follow-up PEN experiment aims at reducing the uncertainty on the π⁺ → е⁺ ν relative probability by almost an order of magnitude (to 5 × 10^–4).     

Conserved vector current and decays τ<Superscript>−</Superscript> → η(η′)π<Superscript>−</Superscript>π<Superscript>0</Superscript>ν<Subscript>τ</Subscript>

We use experimental data on e ⁺ e ^? → (η′)π⁺π^? and conservation of vector current to estimate the branching fractions of τ^? decay to η(η′)π^?π⁰ν_τ. The obtained values are compared to the experimental results.     

Effects of four-fermion contact interactions in the Bhabha process at linear electron-positron colliders

For the case of longitudinally polarized primary beams, effects are investigated that are induced by four-fermion contact interactions in the process e⁺e^? → e⁺e^? occurring at linear electron-positron colliders of energy in the range \(\sqrt s = 0.5 - 1 TeV\). Model-independent constraints on the parameters of four-fermion contact interactions are obtained. It is shown that the sensitivity of the Bhabha process to the parameter Λ_LR is considerably higher than the sensitivity of the leptonic process e⁺e^? → μ⁺μ^?; at the same time, the sensitivities of these processes to the parameters Λ_RR and Λ_LL are commensurate.     

Model-independent analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">CP</Emphasis> violation effects in decays of the Higgs boson into a Pair of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">W</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis> bosons

Effects of CP and T invariance violation are studied in the most general interaction of the Higgs boson with the intermediate vector W ^± and Z bosons. Various angular distributions of the cascade decay Φ → W ⁺ W ^?/ZZ → 4 of fermions in the transversity and helicity systems are calculated, and asymmetries are constructed and evaluated. It is shown that studying the azimuthal angle distribution of the process Φ → ZZ → (e ^? e ⁺)(μ^?μ⁺) in the transversity system is effective for measuring the spatial parity of the Higgs boson.     

Deviation from the standard model in the decay <Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript> → <Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">νγ</Emphasis>

A precise investigation of radiative pion decay (π⁺ → e⁺νγ) in a pion beam from the meson factory of the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) was performed by the PIBETA Collaboration with the aid of the PIBETA detector. This resulted in finding 41 601 events of radiative pion decay in three kinematical regions. The absolute values of the branching ratio for radiative pion decay were determined in each of these regions. To a precision approximately four times higher than that known previously, the ratio of the axial-vector to the vector form factor was found to be γ ≡ F _A /F _V = 0.443 (15), the latter being fixed at F _V = 0.0259. The number of events found in the kinematical region specified by photon energies of E_γ > 55.6 MeV, positron energies of E _e > 20.0 MeV, and angles of θ_{γ, e} > 40° between the momenta of the corresponding particles (B region) was 5233. In region B, the measured branching ratio for radiative pion decay, R_π→evγ(expt) = 11.6(3) × 10^?8, proved to be smaller by eight standard deviations than that which follows from the Standard Model, R_π→evγ (theor) = 14.34(1) × 10^?8.     

Anomalous magnetic moment of the muon in the left-right model

The effect of Higgs bosons on the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon is considered within the model that is based on the SU(2)_L×SU(2)_R×U(1)_B–L gauge group and which involves a bidoublet and two triplets of Higgs fields (left-right model). For the Yukawa coupling constants and the masses of Higgs bosons, the regions are found where the model leads to agreement with experimental results obtained at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) for the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon. In order to explore corollaries from the constraints obtained for the parameters of the Higgs sector, the processes e⁺e^? → μ⁺μ^?, τ⁺τ^? and μ⁺μ^? → μ⁺μ^?, τ⁺τ^? are considered both within the left-right model and within the model involving two Higgs doublets (two-Higgs-doublet model). It is shown that, if the mass of the lightest neutral Higgs boson does indeed lie in the range 3.1–10 GeV, as is inferred from the condition requiring the consistency of the two-Higgs-doublet model with the data of the BNL experiment, this Higgs boson may be observed as a resonance peak at currently operating e⁺e^? colliders (VEPP-4M, CESR, KEKB, PEP-II, and SLC). In order to implement this program, however, it is necessary to reduce considerably the scatter of energy in the e⁺ and e^? beams used, since the decay width of the lightest neutral Higgs boson is extremely small at such mass values. It is demonstrated that, in the case of the left-right model, for which the mass of the lightest neutral Higgs boson is not less than 115 GeV, the resonance peak associated with it may be detected at a muon collider.     

Analysis of the production of Higgs boson pairs at the one-loop level in the minimal supersymmetric standard model

Within theminimal supersymmetric standardmodel, the amplitudes and total cross sections for the processes e ⁺ e ^? → hh, e ⁺ e ^? → hH, e ⁺ e ^? → HH, and e ⁺ e ^? → AA are calculated in the first order of perturbation theory with allowance for a complete set of one-loop diagrams in the m _e → 0 approximation. Analytic expressions are obtained for the quantities under consideration; numerical results are presented in a graphical form. It is shown that the cross section for the process e ⁺ e ^? → hh is larger than those for the other processes (and is on the same order of magnitude as the cross section for the corresponding processes in the Standard Model). In the case of the collision energy equal to √s = 500 GeV, an integrated luminosity in the region ∫ ? ≥ 500 fb^?1, and a longitudinal polarization of the e ⁺ e ? beams used, 520, 320, and 300 production events are possible in the processes e ⁺ e ^? → hh (at M _h = 115 GeV), e ⁺ e ^? → HH, and e ⁺ e ^? → AA (at M _H,A = 120 GeV), respectively. Even at M _H,A ≈ 500 GeV and √s = 1.5 TeV, not less than 200 events for each of the processes can be accumulated. The cross section for the process e ⁺ e ^? → hH is small (about 10^?2 fb), which complicates the detection of the sought signal significantly.     

Energy scan of cross sections for <Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>–</Superscript> annihilation into quarkonia and light hadrons in the Belle experiment

The cross sections of the reactions e⁺e^– → ?(nS)π⁺π^? (n = 1, 2,3) and e⁺e^– → h _b (nP)π⁺π^? (n = 1, 2) are measured as a function of the cms collision energy from their thresholds up to 11.02 GeV using the data of the Belle experiment operating at the KEKB e⁺e^– collider. The peaks of the ?(10 860) and ?(11020) resonances are observed in the cross sections with an insignificant contribution of the continuum. The decay ?(11020) → h _b (nP)π⁺π^? is found to fully proceed through intermediate isovector states Z _b (10610) and Z _b (10650).     

Probing of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis>γγ production sensitivity to anomalous quartic gauge couplings at LHC experiments with √ <Emphasis Type="Italic">s</Emphasis> =13 TeV

Sensitivity to anomalous ZZγγ and Zγγγ couplings in Zγγ production was probed for the ATLAS experiment at Large Hadron Collider. Zγγ process with anomalous couplings simulation in ppcollisions with √ s = 13 TeV was performed using VBFNLO MC generator. The expected limits on the Effective Field Theory parameters f _T0/Λ4, f _T5/Λ4, f _T9/Λ4, f _M2/Λ4, f _M3/Λ4 were extracted for 5 fb^?1 integral luminosity using the distribution on the invariant mass of Zγγ from the combination of charged leptonic decay channels of Z boson (Zγγ → μ⁺μ^?γγ and Zγγ → e⁺e^?γγ).     

Effect of FCNC mediated <Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis> boson on lepton flavor violating decays

We study the three body lepton flavor violating (LFV) decays μ ^?→e ^? e ⁺ e ^?, \(\tau^{-} \to l_{i}^{-} l_{j}^{+} l_{j}^{-}\) and the semileptonic decay τ→μφ in the flavor changing neutral current (FCNC) mediated Z boson model. We also calculate the branching ratios for LFV leptonic B decays, B _d,s →μe, B _d,s →τe, B _d,s →τμ and the conversion of muon to electron in Ti nucleus. The new physics parameter space is constrained by using the experimental limits on μ ^?→e ^? e ⁺ e ^? and τ ^?→μ ^? μ ⁺ μ ^?. We find that the branching ratios for τ→eee and τ→μφ processes could be as large as \({\sim}{\mathcal{O}}(10^{-8})\) and \(\mathrm{Br}(B_{d,s} \to \tau \mu,~ \tau e) \sim {\mathcal{O}}(10^{-10})\). For other LFV B decays the branching ratios are found to be too small to be observed in the near future.     

New measurements on physics of <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis>-hadrons in ATLAS experiment

Recent results on B-hadron physics in ATLAS are reviewed. A new measurement of CP-violating parameters in B _s → J/ψφ decay is performed on full Run 1 statistics. Branching fraction BR(B _s → μ⁺μ^?) = (0.9 _?0.8 ^+1.1 )×10^?9 is measured, below the Standard Model (SM) prediction.     

The evaluation of the branching ratios of the decays φ(1020)→2π<Superscript>+</Superscript>2π<Superscript>−</Superscript>π<Superscript>0</Superscript>, π<Superscript>+</Superscript>π<Superscript>−</Superscript>3π<Superscript>0</Superscript>

Combining the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka rule in the decay φ→ρπ→π⁺π^?π⁰ with the ρ→4π decay amplitudes, we calculate the φ→2π⁺2π^?π⁰ and φ→π⁺π^?3π⁰ ones. The partial widths of the above φ decays are evaluated, and the excitation curves in e⁺e^? annihilation are obtained, assuming reasonable particular relations among the parameters characterizing the anomalous terms of the HLS Lagrangian. The evaluated branching ratios B_φ→π⁺_π^?_3π⁰ ≈ 2 × 10^?7 and B_φ→2π⁺_2π^?_π⁰ ≈ 7 × 10^?7 are such that, with the luminosity L=500 pb^?1 attained at DAΦNE φ factory, one may already possess about 1685 events of the decays φ→5π.     

Pseudoscalar Higgs boson in experiments at <Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>−</Superscript> colliders

The potential of experiments at e ⁺ e ^? colliders to search for a signal of a new pseudoscalar Higgs boson and to study its CP properties is analyzed. A new Higgs boson coupling to the b quark and τ lepton, which is parameterized in a model-independent way as m _b /v(a + iγ₅ b), is chosen to be an indicator of its CP nature. We study the e ⁺ e ^? → τ⁺τ^?vv, e ⁺ e ^? → b \(\bar b\)vv, and e ⁺ e ^? → e ⁺ e ^? b \(\bar b\) processes highly sensitive to anomalous Higgs boson couplings due to the dominant contributions from the vector boson fusion processes W*W* → H and Z*Z* → H in the central region. It is shown that the study of polarization of particles in the final state could help to separate the contributions from the scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs bosons. For instance, the consideration of the cascade decays of τ leptons in the e ⁺ e ^? → τ⁺τ^?vv process allows one to determine reliably the CP state of the Higgs boson as well as the value and the sign of the b parameter. As a result of our analysis, we develop a search strategy for a signal of a new pseudoscalar Higgs boson in future experiments at linear e ⁺ e ^? colliders, which will allow one to understand the CP nature of the Higgs boson and set the bounds on its couplings to fermions.     

Separation of electrons and pions in the SND detector calorimeter

A method is developed for discriminating between e⁺e^? → e⁺e^? and e⁺e^? → π⁺π^? events in the center-of-mass (cms) energy range of 0.5 to 1.0 GeV by energy deposition in the electromagnetic calorimeter of the SND detector using a machine learning algorithm. Identification efficiencies for e⁺e^? → e⁺e^? and e⁺e^? → π⁺π^? events are 99.6 and 99.8%, respectively.     

Four-Leptonic Decays of Charged and Neutral <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> Mesons within the Standard Model

The branching ratios and differential distributions for the four-leptonic decays \({B^ - } \to {\mu ^ + }{\mu ^ - }{\bar v_e}{e^ - }\), \({B^ - } \to {e^ + }{e^ - }{\bar v_\mu }{\mu ^ - }\), and \({B^ - } \to {\mu ^ + }{\bar v_\mu }{\mu ^ - }{\mu ^ - }\) are calculated within the Standard Model. The branching ratios for the rare decays B_d,s → e⁺e^?μ⁺μ^? and B_d,s → μ⁺μ^?μ⁺μ^? are estimated. Methods for testing the lepton universality in rare multileptonic decays of charged and neutral B mesons are proposed.     

Tests of discrete symmetries with the neutral kaon system at the KLOE and KLOE-2 experiments

The KLOE-2 experiment continues and extends the program of its predecessor KLOE in the field of discrete symmetry tests with the K meson system, among other studies which comprise light meson spectroscopy, dark matter searches and γγ physics. Together, KLOE and KLOE-2 have recorded the largest sample (almost 8 fb^??1) of e⁺e^? collisions at the energy equal to ? meson mass, amounting to 2.4 × 10¹⁰ of produced ? mesons. We report on the latest results and ongoing analyses of KLOE and KLOE-2 concerning discrete symmetry tests and measurements of symmetry-violating observables. A measurement of the CPT violation sensitive asymmetry in semileptonic decays of K˙S with 1.7 fb^??1 of KLOE data will be presented, which improves the sensitivity w.r.t. previous measurements about twice. Moreover, status of direct tests of T and CPT in transitions of neutral kaons performed with the ? →K˙SK˙L → πeν, 3π⁰(2π) processes will be reported, followed by the search of the CP-violating decay K˙S → 3π⁰ using the data recently acquired by KLOE-2.     

Analytic calculation of feynman amplitudes

A new method is proposed for calculating amplitudes of processes involving spin-1/2 fermions. The method is based on the use of the isotropic-vierbein vectors in Minkowski space and the basis spinors associated with them. The amplitudes for the electron-positron interaction processes e^?e⁺ → ff and e^?e⁺ → W^?W⁺ and the amplitude for one of the possible diagrams for the process e⁺e^? → e⁺e^?e⁺e^?e⁺e^? are calculated in order to test and illustrate the potential of the method.     

Electromagnetic transition form factors of Λ → <Emphasis Type="Italic">ne</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript>−</Superscript> weak dilepton decay

Weak radiative decay Λ → ne⁺e^? depends in general on four independent electromagnetic transition form factors. These form factors can be fixed in an extended model of dominance of vector mesons, where the asymptotic behavior of form factors is in agreement with quark counting rules. The dependence of the branching ratio of the Λ → ne⁺e^? decay on the relative weight of four electromagnetic form factors is investigated.