Implications of $B \to \rho \gamma$ measurements in the standard model and supersymmetric theories

We study the implications of the recently improved upper limits on the branching ratios for the decays , expressed as . We work out the constraints that the current bound on implies on the parameters of the quark mixing matrix in the standard model (SM). Using the present profile of the unitarity triangle, we predict this ratio to lie in the range (at 95% C.L.), with the central value . We also work out the correlations involving , the isospin-violating ratio , and the direct CP-violating asymmetry in decays in the SM, in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the SM (MSSM), and in an extension of the MSSM involving an additional flavor-changing structure in transitions. Received: 19 August 2002 / Published online: 18 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: ali@mail.desy.de RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: lunghi@mail.desy.de     

Higgs bosons in the simplest SUSY models

Nowadays, in the MSSM, the moderate values of tan β are almost excluded by the LEP II lower bound on the mass of the lightest Higgs boson. In the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM), the theoretical upper bound on it increases and reaches a maximal value in the limit of strong Yukawa coupling, where all solutions to renormalization-group equations are concentrated near the quasifixed point. For a calculation of the Higgs boson spectrum, the perturbation-theory method can be applied. We investigate the particle spectrum within the modified NMSSM, which leads to the self-consistent solution in the limit of strong Yukawa coupling. This model allows one to get m _h～125 GeV at tan β≥1.9. In the model under investigation, the mass of the lightest Higgs boson does not exceed 130.5±3.5 GeV. The upper bound on the mass of the lightest CP-even Higgs boson in more complicated supersymmetric models is also discussed.     

Probing the Majorana mass scale of right-handed neutrinos in mSUGRA

We discuss the perspectives of testing the right-handed Majorana mass scale M_R of the SUSY see-saw model in the mSUGRA framework. Lepton-flavor violating low energy processes are analyzed in recently proposed post-LEP benchmark scenarios, taking into account present uncertainties and future developments in the neutrino sector. Non-observation of in the next-generation PSI experiment will provide upper bounds on M_R of the order of GeV, while on the other hand, a positive signal for at SUPERKEKB or the LHC may determine M_R for a given mSUGRA scenario with an accuracy of a factor of 2. Received: 14 June 2002 / Revised version: 7 January 2003 / Published online: 14 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: deppisch@physik.uni-wuerzburg.de RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: paes@physik.uni-wuerzburg.de RID="c" ID="c" e-mail: asredelb@physik.uni-wuerzburg.de RID="d" ID="d" e-mail: rueckl@physik.uni-wuerzburg.de RID="e" ID="e" e-mail: shimizu@eken.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp     

Structure and properties of confined sodium nitrite

We study the lateral and transverse diffusion of amphiphiles in two-component bilayer membranes, using a coarse-grained model for amphiphilic molecules and combined Monte Carlo-Molecular Dynamics simulations. Membrane structural properties, such as the mean thickness, are also measured. The dependence of such properties on membrane composition, inter-molecular interactions, and amphiphile stiffness is determined. In particular, we show that addition of shorter amphiphiles drives the model membrane towards a more fluid state, with increased amphiphile lateral diffusion rates. These results can be understood in the framework of a simple free-volume model. Furthermore, we observe an increase in the trans-membrane diffusion when the interaction energy of amphiphiles with their neighboring molecules is decreased. Received: 6 December 2002 / Accepted: 17 April 2003 / Published online: 27 May 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: imparato@mpikg-golm.mpg.de RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: shillcock@mpikg-golm.mpg.de RID="c" ID="c"e-mail: lipowsky@mpikg-golm.mpg.de     

Heavy charged Higgs boson production at next generation $\gamma\gamma$ colliders

We investigate the scope of all relevant production modes of charged Higgs bosons in the MSSM, with mass larger than the one of the top quark, at future Linear Colliders operating in mode at the TeV energy scale. Final states with one or two bosons are considered, as produced by both tree- and loop-level interactions. Received: 8 November 2002 / Revised version: 12 February 2003 / Published online: 13 May 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: stefano.moretti@cern.ch RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: kanemu@post.kek.jp     

Search for neutral Higgs bosons in CP-conserving and CP-violating MSSM scenarios

This report summarizes the final results from the OPAL collaboration on searches for neutral Higgs bosons predicted by the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). CP-conserving and, for the first time at LEP, CP-violating scenarios are studied. New scenarios are also included, which aim to set the stage for Higgs searches at future colliders. The results are based on the data collected with the OPAL detector at e ⁺ e^- centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV. The data are consistent with the prediction of the Standard Model with no Higgs boson produced. Model-independent limits are derived for the cross-sections of a number of event topologies motivated by predictions of the MSSM. Limits on Higgs boson masses and other MSSM parameters are obtained for a number of representative MSSM benchmark scenarios. For example, in the CP-conserving scenario m _h-max where the MSSM parameters are adjusted to predict the largest range of values for m _h at each , and for a top quark mass of 174.3 GeV, the domain is excluded at the 95% confidence level and Higgs boson mass limits of m _h > 84.5 GeV and m _A > 85.0 GeV are obtained. For the CP-violating benchmark scenario CPX which, by construction, enhances the CP-violating effects in the Higgs sector, the domain is excluded but no universal limit can be set on the Higgs boson masses.Received: 6 April 2004, Revised: 8 June 2004, Published online: 12 August 2004     

Experimental tests of non-perturbative pion wave functions

We use the transverse-momentum dependence of the cross section for the diffractive dissociation of high energy pions to two jets to study some non-perturbative light-cone wave functions of the pion. We compare the predictions for this distribution by Gaussian and Coulomb wave functions as well as the wave function derived from a solution of the light-cone Hamiltonian in the singlet model. We conclude that this experimentally measured information provides a powerful tool for these studies. Received: 15 January 2003 / Published online: 14 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: ashery@tauphy.tau.ac.il RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: pauli@mpi-hd.mpg.de     

Precise prediction for the mass of the lightest Higgs boson in the MSSM

The leading diagrammatic two-loop corrections are incorporated into the prediction for the mass of the lightest Higgs boson, m_h, in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The results, containing the complete diagrammatic one-loop corrections, the new two-loop result and refinement terms incorporating leading electroweak two-loop and higher-order QCD contributions, are discussed and compared with results obtained by renormalization group calculations. Good agreement is found in the case of vanishing mixing in the scalar quark sector, while sizable deviations occur if squark mixing is taken into account.     

Higher-order corrections to Higgs boson decays in the MSSM with complex parameters

We discuss Higgs boson decays in the CP-violating MSSM, and examine their phenomenological impact using cross section limits from the LEP Higgs searches. This includes a discussion of the full 1-loop results for the partial decay widths of neutral Higgs bosons into lighter neutral Higgs bosons (h _a →h _b h _c ) and of neutral Higgs bosons into fermions (\(h_{a} \to f \bar{f}\)). In calculating the genuine vertex corrections, we take into account the full spectrum of supersymmetric particles and all complex phases of the supersymmetric parameters. These genuine vertex corrections are supplemented with Higgs propagator corrections incorporating the full 1-loop and the dominant 2-loop contributions, and we illustrate a method of consistently treating diagrams involving mixing with Goldstone and Z bosons. In particular, the genuine vertex corrections to the process h _a →h _b h _c are found to be very large and, where this process is kinematically allowed, can have a significant effect on the regions of the CPX benchmark scenario which can be excluded by the results of the Higgs searches at LEP. However, there remains an unexcluded region of CPX parameter space at a lightest neutral Higgs boson mass of ～45 GeV. In the analysis, we pay particular attention to the conversion between parameters defined in different renormalisation schemes and are therefore able to make a comparison to the results found using renormalisation group improved/effective potential calculations.     

Non-anomalous discrete R-symmetry, extra matters, and enhancement of the lightest SUSY Higgs mass

We consider low-energy supersymmetric model with non-anomalous discrete R-symmetry. To make the R-symmetry non-anomalous, we add new particles to the particle content of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). Those new particles may couple to the Higgs boson, resulting in a significant enhancement of the lightest Higgs mass. We show that, in such a model, the lightest Higgs mass can be much larger than the MSSM upper bound; the lightest Higgs mass as large as 140 GeV (or larger) becomes possible.     

Deconstructing scalar QED at zero and finite temperature

We calculate the effective potential for the WLPNGB in a world with a circular latticized extra dimension. The mass of the Wilson line pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson (WLPNGB) is calculated from the one-loop quantum effect of scalar fields at zero and finite temperature. We show that a series expansion by the modified Bessel functions is useful to calculate the one-loop effective potentials. Received: 24 January 2003 / Published online: 14 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: b1834@sty.cc.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: b1795@sty.cc.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp RID="c" ID="c" e-mail: shiraish@po.cc.yamaguchi-u.ac.jp     

MSSM Higgs boson searches at the Tevatron and the LHC: Impact of different benchmark scenarios

The Higgs boson search has shifted from LEP2 to the Tevatron and will subsequently move to the LHC. The current limits from the Tevatron and the prospective sensitivities at the LHC are often interpreted in specific MSSM scenarios. For heavy Higgs boson production and subsequent decay into or τ⁺τ^–, the present Tevatron data allow one to set limits in the M_A–tan β plane for small M_A and large tan β values. Similar channels have been explored for the LHC, where the discovery reach extends to higher values of M_A and smaller tan β. Searches for MSSM charged Higgs bosons, produced in top decays or in association with top quarks, have also been investigated at the Tevatron and the LHC. We analyze the current Tevatron limits and prospective LHC sensitivities. We discuss how robust they are with respect to variations of the other MSSM parameters and possible improvements of the theoretical predictions for Higgs boson production and decay. It is shown that the inclusion of supersymmetric radiative corrections to the production cross sections and decay widths leads to important modifications of the present limits on the MSSM parameter space. The impact on the region where only the lightest MSSM Higgs boson can be detected at the LHC is also analyzed. We propose to extend the existing benchmark scenarios by including additional values of the higgsino mass parameter μ. This affects only slightly the search channels for a SM-like Higgs boson, while having a major impact on the searches for non-standard MSSM Higgs bosons.     

Explicit model realizing parton-hadron duality

An explicit model realizing parton-hadron duality and fitting the data is suggested. Complex nonlinear Regge trajectories are important ingredients of the model. The inclusion of Δ and N^* trajectories should account for all resonances in the direct channel. The exotic trajectory is responsible for the smooth background. Received: 7 June 2002 / Accepted: 3 July 2002 / Published online: 10 December 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: fiore@cs.infn.it RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: flachi@ifae.es RID="c" ID="c"e-mail: jenk@gluk.org RID="d" ID="d"e-mail: sasha@len.uzhgorod.ua RID="e" ID="e"e-mail: vladimir@cfif.ist.utl.pt Communicated by V.V. Anisovich     

Simplified parametric scenarios of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model after the discovery of the Higgs boson

Constraints on the parameter space of theMinimal Supersymmetric StandardModel (MSSM) that are imposed by the experimentally observed mass of the Higgs boson (m_H = 125 GeV) upon taking into account radiative corrections within an effective theory for the Higgs sector in the decoupling limit are examined. It is also shown that simplified approximations for radiative corrections in theMSSM Higgs sector could reduce, to a rather high degree of precision, the dimensionality of the multidimensionalMSSM parameter space to two.     

Quantisation of $\theta$-expanded non-commutative QED

We analyse two new versions of -expanded non-commutative quantum electrodynamics up to first order in and first loop order. In the first version we expand the bosonic sector using the Seiberg-Witten map, leaving the fermions unexpanded. In the second version we leave both bosons and fermions unexpanded. The analysis shows that the Seiberg-Witten map is a field redefinition at first order in . However, at higher order in the Seiberg-Witten map cannot be regarded as a field redefinition. We find that the initial action of any -expanded massless non-commutative QED must include one extra term proportional to which we identify by loop calculations. Received: 3 July 2002 / Published online: 7 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: jesper@hep.itp.tuwien.ac.at Work supported by The Danish Research Agency. RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: raimar.wulkenhaar@mis.mpg.de Schloe?mann fellow     

The radiative return at $\phi$- and B-factories: small-angle photon emission at next-to-leading order

The radiative return offers the unique possibility for a measurement of the cross section of electron-positron annihilation into hadrons over a wide range of energies. The large luminosity of present - and B-factories easily compensates for the additional factor of due to the emission of a hard photon. Final states with photons at large angles can be easily identified. The rate for events with collinear photons, however, is enhanced by a large logarithm and allows, in particular at lower energies, for a complementary measurement. The Monte Carlo generator PHOKHARA, which includes next-to-leading order corrections from virtual and real photon emission, has been extended from large photon angles into the collinear region, using recent results for the virtual corrections. In addition, the present version includes final state radiation for muon and pion pair production and final states with four pions. Implications for the experimental analysis at three typical energies, 1.02, 4 and 10.6 GeV, are presented: the magnitude of these new corrections is studied, possibilities for the separation of initial and final state radiation are proposed, and the differences with respect to the previous treatment based on structure functions are investigated. Received: 16 December 2002 / Published online: 26 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: czyz@us.edu.pl RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: grzel@joy.phys.us.edu.pl, Supported in part by "Marie Curie Training Site" at Karlsruhe University RID="c" ID="c" e-mail: jk@particle.uni-karlsruhe.de RID="d" ID="d" e-mail: german.rodrigo@cern.ch, Supported in part by E.U. TMR grant HPMF-CT-2000-00989     

Lepton flavor-changing scalar interactions and <Emphasis Type="Italic">g</Emphasis>-2 of the muon

A systematic investigation on the muon's anomalous magnetic moment and a related lepton flavor-violating process such as , and is made at the two-loop level in the models with flavor-changing scalar interactions. The two-loop diagrams with double scalar exchanges are studied and their contributions are found to be compatible with the ones from the Barr-Zee diagram. By comparing with the latest data, the allowed ranges for the relevant Yukawa couplings Y_ij in the lepton sector are obtained. The results show the hierarchical structure in the physical basis if is found to be . It deviates from the widely used ansatz in which the off-diagonal elements are proportional to the square root of the products of the related fermion masses. An alternative Yukawa coupling matrix in the lepton sector is suggested to understand the current data. With such a reasonable Yukawa coupling ansatz, the decay rate of is found to be near the current experiment upper bound. Received: 5 September 2002 / Revised version: 11 January 2003 / Published online: 26 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: zhou@theorie.physik.uni-muenchen.de RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: ylwu@itp.ac.cn     

World-line techniques for resumming gluon radiative corrections at the cross-section level

We employ the Polyakov world-line path-integral version of QCD to identify and resum at leading perturbative order enhanced radiative gluon contributions to the Drell-Yan type ( pair annihilation) cross-sections. We emphasize that this is the first time that world-line techniques are applied to cross-section calculations. Received: 10 June 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: akaranik@cc.uoa.gr RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: cktorid@cc.uoa.gr RID="c" ID="c" e-mail: stefanis@tp2.ruhr-uni-bochum.de