The \gamma \gamma \to \gamma Z process at high energies and the search for virtual SUSY effects

We study the helicity amplitudes and the observables of the process at high energy. As in the case of the process studied before, the relevant diagrams in the standard model (SM) involve W, charged-quark, and lepton loops, while in SUSY we also have contributions from charginos and charged-sfermion or Higgs-loop diagrams. Above 250 GeV, the dominant SM amplitudes are themselves dominated by the W loop, and as for , they are helicity conserving and almost purely imaginary. We discuss the complementary information provided by for the identification of possible nonstandard effects. This process, together with , should provide very useful information on the nature of possible new physics particles, above the threshold of their direct production. Received: 26 April 1999 / Published online: 8 September 1999     

The \gamma \gamma \to Z Z process and the search for virtual SUSY effects at a \gamma \gamma Collider

We study the helicity amplitudes of the process in the Standard Model at high energy. These amplitudes receive contributions from the W and charged quark and lepton loops, analogous to those encountered in the cases studied before. But also receives contributions from the Higgs s-channel poles involving the effective Higgs- vertex. At energies , the amplitudes in all three processes are mainly helicity-conserving and almost purely imaginary; which renders them a very useful tool in searching for New Physics. As an example, a SUSY case is studied, and the signatures due to the virtual effects induced by a chargino-, charged slepton- or a lightest stop-loop in , are explored. These signatures, combined with the analogous ones in and , should help identifying the nature of possible New Physics particles. Received: 3 September 1999 / Published online: 3 February 2000     

Supersymmetric penguin contributions to the decay b\rightarrow s\gamma with non-universal squarks masses

We give explicit expressions for the amplitudes associated with the supersymmetric (SUSY) contributions to the process in the context of SUSY extensions of the standard model (SM) with non-universal soft SUSY breaking terms. From experimental data we deduce limits on the squark mass insertions obtained from different contributions (gluinos, neutralinos and charginos). Received: 20 April 2001 / Revised version: 14 December 2001 / Published online: 5 April 2002     

The heavy neutral Higgs signature in the \gamma \gamma \to Z Z process

If the standard model (SM) Higgs particle is sufficiently heavy, then its contribution to should be largely imaginary, interfering with the also predominantly imaginary SM “background” generated by the W loop. For standard model Higgs masses in the region GeV, this interference is found to be constructive and increasing the Higgs signal. In the minimal SUSY case an interference effect should also appear for the contribution of the heavier CP-even neutral Higgs boson , provided it is sufficiently heavy. The effect is somewhat reduced, though, by the smallness of the width and the and ZZ branching ratios. The interference is again found to be constructive for part of the parameter space corresponding to sfermion masses at the TeV scale and maximal stop mixing. For both the SM and the SUSY case, regions of the parameter space exist, though, where the interference may be destructive. It is therefore essential to take these effects into account when searching for possible scalar Higgs-like candidates. To this aim, we present the complete analytic expressions for both resonance and background amplitudes. Received: 20 October 2000 / Revised version: 5 January 2001 / Published online: 23 February 2001     

Results from GRACE/SUSY at one-loop

We report the recent development on the SUSY calculations with the help of GRACE system. GRACE/SUSY/1LOOP is the computer code which can generate Feynman diagrams in the MSSM automatically and compute one-loop amplitudes in the numerical way. We present new results of various two-body decay widths and chargino pair production at ILC (international linear collider) at one-loop level.      

Penguin and box diagrams in unitary gauge

We evaluate one-loop diagrams in the unitary gauge that contribute to flavor-changing neutral current (FCNC) transitions involving two and four fermions. Specifically, we deal with penguin and box diagrams arising within the standard model (SM) and in nonrenormalizable extensions thereof with anomalous couplings of the W boson to quarks. We show explicitly in the SM the subtle cancellation among divergences from individual unitary-gauge contributions to some of the physical FCNC amplitudes and derive expressions consistent with those obtained using R _ξ gauges in the literature. Some of our results can be used more generally in certain models involving fermions and gauge bosons which have interactions similar in form to those we consider.     

The radiative leptonic decays D^0 \to e^+ e^-\gamma,\mu^+\mu^-\gamma in the standard model and beyond

We present a calculation of the rare decay modes and in the framework of the standard model. For the short distance part we have derived QCD corrections to the Wilson coefficients involved, including C₉. The latter is found to be strongly suppressed by the corrections, leading to diminished values for the branching ratios in the 10^-10 range. Within SM the exclusive decays are dominated by long distance effects. Non-resonant contributions are estimated using heavy quark and chiral symmetries to be at the level of , compared to the contributions arising from , with . The total SM branching ratio is predicted to be in the range (1-. We also consider contributions coming from MSSM with and without R parity conservation. The effects from MSSM are significant only for the R parity violating case. Such contributions enhance the branching ratio to , based on appropriately allowed values for C₉ and C₁₀. This selects as a possible probe of new physics. Received: 25 October 2002 / Published online: 24 January 2003     

Production of scalar Higgs and pseudoscalar Higgs in multi-Higgs doublet models at \gamma\gamma colliders

We present the effects of heavy CP-even (H) and CP-odd (A) Higgs bosons on the production cross section of the process at the energy around the mass poles of the Higgs bosons. It is found that interference between H and A with small mass gap, as well as the ones between Higgs bosons and continuum, contributes to the cross section, if the photon beams are polarized and if we observe the helicity of the top quarks. It is demonstrated in the framework of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model that the H and A contributions can be sizable at future colliders for small values of . The methods to measure the CP-parity of the Higgs boson are also presented. The statistical significance of detecting the Higgs signals and measuring the Higgs CP-parity is evaluated. Received: 16 December 1999 / Revised version: 30 January 2000 / Published online: 6 April 2000     

New formulas and predictions for running fermion masses at higher scales in SM, 2HDM, and MSSM

Including contributions of scale-dependent vacuum expectation values, we derive new analytic formulas and obtain substantially different numerical predictions for the running masses of quarks and charged leptons at higher scales in the SM, 2HDM and MSSM. These formulas exhibit significantly different behaviours with respect to their dependence on gauge and Yukawa couplings from those derived earlier. At one-loop level, the masses of the first two generations are found to be independent of the Yukawa couplings of the third generation in all three effective theories in the small mixing limit. Analytic formulas are also obtained for the running of in 2HDM and MSSM. Other numerical analyses include a study of the third generation masses at high scales as functions of the low-energy values of and the SUSY scale GeV. Received: 1 October 2000 / Revised version: 11 January 2001 / Published online: 12 April 2001     

Neutralino pair production in a $\gamma \gamma $ collider

We present a complete one-loop study of the process and the predicted cross section in a Linear Collider. A suitable numerical code, PLATONlc, valid for any set of real MSSM parameters, is released. This study and code are complementary to those suitable for dark matter detection through the inverse process describing neutralino-neutralino annihilation at rest, which were presented previously. If SUSY is realized in nature, both codes should be very helpful in future astrophysical and collider studies of the neutralino sector.Received: 6 November 2003, Published online: 9 January 2004Programme dActions Intégrées Franco-Hellenique, Platon 04100 UM.     

The processes \gamma\gamma\to Z H in SM and MSSM

The process first arises at the one loop level, and as such it provides us with remarkable tests of the structure of the electroweak Higgs sector. These tests are complementary to those in the gauge sector involving . We show that in the standard model (SM) where , as well as in the supersymmetric case where or , observables exist (like e.g. the energy dependence, angular distribution, photon polarization dependence or final Z polarization) which present rather spectacular properties. Such properties involve strong threshold effects with steps, bumps or peaks, reflecting the type of Higgs and heavy quarks and chargino masses and couplings predicted by the SM and supersymmetric models. Received: 13 March 2001 / Published online: 13 June 2001     

Singular terms of helicity amplitudes at one loop in QCD and the soft limit of the cross sections of multi-parton processes

We describe a general method that enables us to obtain all the singular terms of helicity amplitudes of n-parton processes at one loop. The algorithm uses helicity amplitudes at tree level and simple color algebra. We illustrate the method by calculating the singular part of the one-loop helicity amplitudes of all 2 → 3 parton subprocesses. The results are used to derive the soft gluon limit of the cross sections of all 2 → 4 parton scattering subprocesses which provide a useful initial condition for the angular ordering approximation to coherent multiple soft gluon emission, incorporated in existing Monte Carlo simulation programs.     

On-the-fly reduction of open loops

Building on the open-loop algorithm we introduce a new method for the automated construction of one-loop amplitudes and their reduction to scalar integrals. The key idea is that the factorisation of one-loop integrands in a product of loop segments makes it possible to perform various operations on-the-fly while constructing the integrand. Reducing the integrand on-the-fly, after each segment multiplication, the construction of loop diagrams and their reduction are unified in a single numerical recursion. In this way we entirely avoid objects with high tensor rank, thereby reducing the complexity of the calculations in a drastic way. Thanks to the on-the-fly approach, which is applied also to helicity summation and for the merging of different diagrams, the speed of the original open-loop algorithm can be further augmented in a very significant way. Moreover, addressing spurious singularities of the employed reduction identities by means of simple expansions in rank-two Gram determinants, we achieve a remarkably high level of numerical stability. These features of the new algorithm, which will be made publicly available in a forthcoming release of the OpenLoops program, are particularly attractive for NLO multi-leg and NNLO real–virtual calculations.     

P-odd observables at the \Upsilon peak

We study the -Z interference in the process as a means to measure the neutral current coupling of the b-quark. The helicity amplitudes are calculated from resonant and background diagrams and the spin density matrix of the final state is discussed. The spin analyzer of the 's is illustrated with the decays and . With a sensitivity to of a few per cent could be reachable. Received: 14 April 1998 / Revised version: 25 August 1998 / Published online: 3 December 1998     

Complete one-loop corrections to the mass spectrum of charginos and neutralinos in the MSSM

The mass spectrum of the chargino–neutralino sector in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) is calculated at the one-loop level, based on the complete set of one-loop diagrams. On-shell renormalization conditions are applied to determine the counterterms for the gaugino-mass-parameters and the Higgsino-mass parameter . The input is fixed in terms of three pole masses (two charginos and one neutralino); the other pole masses receive a shift with respect to the tree-level masses, which can amount to several GeV. The detailed evaluation shows that both the fermionic/sfermionic loop contributions and the non-(s)fermionic loop contributions are of the same order of magnitude and are thus relevant for precision studies at future colliders. Received: 26 April 2002 / Published online: 21 June 2002     

T-odd correlation in the K_{13_\gamma } decay

The dependence of the K ⁺ → π ⁰ l ⁺ ν _lγ decay rate on the T-odd kinematical variable ξ = q · [p _l × p _π]/m _K ³ is investigated in the tree and one-loop approximations of the Standard Model (SM). It is shown that the partial width of the decay on the tree level is an even function of the variable ξ, whereas the odd component is generated by the electromagnetic final-state interaction and determined by the imaginary parts of one-loop diagrams. The ξ-odd components of the partial widths of the K ⁺ → π ⁰e⁺ ν _e γ and K ⁺ → μ ⁰μ⁺ ν _μ γ decays calculated in the one-loop approximation are smaller by four orders of magnitude than the even components evaluated from the tree-level SM diagrams.     

The SM as the quantum low-energy effective theory of the MSSM

In the framework of the minimal supersymmetric standard model we compute the one-loop effective action for the electroweak bosons obtained after integrating out the different sleptons, squarks, neutralinos and charginos, and present the result in terms of the physical sparticle masses. In addition we study the asymptotic behavior of the two-, three- and four-point Green's functions with external electroweak bosons in the limit where the physical sparticle masses are very large in comparison with the electroweak scale. We find that in this limit all the effects produced by the supersymmetric particles can either be absorbed in the standard model parameters and gauge bosons wave functions, or else they are suppressed by inverse powers of the supersymmetric particle masses. This work, therefore, completes the proof of decoupling of the heavy supersymmetric particles from the standard ones in the electroweak bosons effective action and in the sense of the Appelquist–Carazzone theorem; we started this proof in a previous work. From the point of view of effective field theories this work can be seen as a (partial) proof that the SM can indeed be obtained from the MSSM as the quantum low-energy effective theory of the latter when the SUSY spectra are much heavier than the electroweak scale. Received: 27 March 1999 / Revised version: 7 September 1999 / Published online: 27 January 2000     

Use of \Lambda_b polarimetry in top quark spin-correlation functions

Due to the absence of hadronization effects and the large mass, top quark decay will be uniquely sensitive to fundamental electroweak physics at the Tevatron, at the LHC, and at a future linear collider. A “complete measurement” of the four helicity amplitudes in decay is possible by the combined use of andW polarimetry in stage-two spin-correlation functions (S2SC). In this paper, the most general Lorentz-invariant decay density matrix is obtained for the decay sequence where and [or ], and likewise for . These density matrices are expressed in terms of b-polarimetry helicity parameters which enable a unique determination of the relative phases among the amplitudes. Thereby, S2SC distributions and single-sided b-W-interference distributions are expressed in terms of these parameters. The four b-polarimetry helicity parameters involving the amplitude are considered in detail. polarimetry signatures will not be suppressed in top quark analyses when final angles-and-energy variables are used for . Received: 26 January 2001 / Published online: 15 March 2001     

The $Z \rightarrow \gamma \gamma,\;gg$ decays in the non-commutative standard model

On non-commutative spacetime, the standard model (SM) allows new, usually SM forbidden, triple gauge boson interactions to occur. In this letter we propose the SM strictly forbidden and decay modes coming from the gauge sector of the non-commutative standard model (NCSM) as a place where non-commutativity could be experimentally discovered. Received: 2 July 2002, Revised: 28 February 2003, Published online: 18 June 2003     

Factorisation in higher-twist single-spin amplitudes

We analyse the twist-three amplitudes that can give rise to single-spin asymmetries in hadron-hadron scattering; in so doing we bring to light a novel factorisation property. As already known, the requirement of an imaginary part leads to consideration of twist-three contributions that are also related to transverse spin in deep-inelastic scattering. In particular, when an external line becomes soft in contributions arising from three-parton correlators, the imaginary part of an internal propagator may be exposed. As shown here, it is precisely this kinematical configuration that permits the factorisation. An important feature is the resulting simplification: the calculation of tens of Feynman diagrams normally contributing to such processes is reduced to the evaluation of products of the simple factors derived here and known two-body helicity amplitudes. We thus find clarifying relations between the spin-dependent and spin-averaged cross-sections and formulate a series of selection rules. In addition, the kinematical dependence of such asymmetries, is rendered more transparent. Received: 31 July 1998 / Revised version: 12 November 1998 / Published online: 11 March 1999