Abstract: We point out that in the standard model there is meaningful quark mixing even in the extreme chiral (EC) limit, where only the third generation of quarks acquires mass. This mixing is in general expected to be of order 1 and the fact that |V-13|(2) + |V-23|(2) approximate to 1.6 x 10(-3) implies a novel fine-tuning problem in the SM which we point out for the first time. We propose a possible way of avoiding this fine-tuning by introducing a symmetry S which leads to V-CKM = 1, with only the third generation of quarks acquiring mass. We consider two scenarios for generating the mass of the first two quark generations and full quark mixing based on the assumption that the masses of the first two quark families are not generated by the standard Higgs. One consists of the introduction of a second Higgs doublet which is neutral under S. The second scenario consists of assuming new physics at a high energy scale, contributing to the masses of light quark generations, in an effective field theory approach. This last scenario leads to couplings of the Higgs particle to s (s) over bar and c (c) over tilde which are significantly enhanced with respect to those of the SM. In both schemes, one has scalar-mediated flavor-changing neutral currents which are naturally suppressed. Flavor-violating top decays are predicted in the second scenario at the level Br(t -> hc) >= 5 x 10(-5).

Abstract: In principle, the strong-interaction sector of the standard model is characterized by a unique renormalization-group-invariant (RGI) running interaction and a unique form for the dressed-gluonquark vertex, Gamma mu; but, whilst much has been learnt about the former, the latter is still obscure. In order to improve this situation, we use a RGI running-interaction that reconciles top-down and bottom-up analyses of the gauge sector in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) to compute dressed-quark gap equation solutions with 1,660,000 distinct Ansatze for Gamma mu. Each one of the solutions is then tested for compatibility with three physical criteria and, remarkably, we find that merely 0.55% of the solutions survive the test. Evidently, even a small selection of observables places extremely tight bounds on the domain of realistic vertex Ansatze. This analysis and its results should prove useful in constraining insightful contemporary studies of QCD and hadronic phenomena.

Abstract: We perform calculations showing that a source producing K*K* in J = 2 and L = 0 gives rise to a triangle singularity at 1810 MeV with a width of about 200 MeV from the mechanism K*-> pi K and then KK* merging into the a alpha(1)(1260) resonance. We suggest that this is the origin of the present f(2)(1810) resonance and propose to look at the pa pi alpha(1)(1260) mode in several reactions to clarify the issue.