Abstract: Multiquark states have been advocated to explain recent experimental data in the heavy-light sector, and there are already speculations about multiquarks containing only heavy quarks and antiquarks. With a rigorous treatment of the four-body problem in current quark models, full-charm (cc (c) over bar(c) over bar) and full-beauty(bb (b) over bar(b) over bar) tetraquarks are found to be unbound. Thus their stability should rely on more subtle effects that are not included in the simple picture of constituent quarks. The case of (bc (b) over bar(c) over bar) might be more favorable if the naive color-additive model of confinement is replaced by a string-inspired interaction.

Abstract: Understanding single pion production reactions on free nucleons is the first step towards a correct description of these processes in nuclei, which are important for signal and background contributions in current and near future accelerator neutrino oscillation experiments. In this work, we reanalyze our previous studies of neutrino-induced one-pion production on nucleons for outgoing pi N invariant masses below 1.4 GeV. Our motivation is to get a better description of the nu(mu)n -> mu(-)n pi(+) cross section, for which current theoretical models give values significantly below data. This channel is very sensitive to the crossed Delta(1232) contribution and thus, to spin 1/2 components in the Rarita-Schwinger Delta propagator. We show how these spin 1/2 components are nonpropagating and give rise to contact interactions. In this context, we point out that the discrepancy with experiment might be corrected by the addition of appropriate extra contact terms and argue that this procedure will provide a natural solution to the nu(mu)n -> mu(-)n pi(+) puzzle. To keep our model simple, in this work, we propose to change the strength of the spin 1/2 components in the. propagator and use the nu(mu)n -> mu(-)n pi(+) data to constraint its value. With this modification, we now find a good reproduction of the nu(mu)n -> mu(-)n pi(+) cross section without affecting the good results previously obtained for the other channels. We also explore how this change in the. propagator affects our predictions for pion photoproduction and find also a better agreement with experiment than with the previous model.

Abstract: The B-+/- meson production asymmetry in pp collisions is measured using B-+/- -> (D) over bar (0)pi(+) decays. The data were recorded by the LHCb experiment during Run 1 of the LHC at center- of- mass energies of ffiffiffi root s = 7 and 8 TeV. The production asymmetries, integrated over transverse momenta in the range 2 < p(T) < 30 GeV/c, and rapidities in the range 2.1 < y < 4.5 are measured to be A(prod)(B+, root s = 7 TeV) = (-0.41 +/- 0.49 +/- 0.10) x 10(- 2), A(prod)(B+, root s = 8 TeV = (- 0.53 +/- 0.31 +/- 0.10) x 10(-2), where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. These production asymmetries are used to correct the raw asymmetries of (B+ -> J/psi K+) decays, thus allowing a measurement of the CP asymmetry, A(CP)(B+-> J/psi K+) = (0.09 +/- 0.27 +/- 0.07) x 10(-2)

Abstract: We investigate the predictions for lepton flavor number violating processes in the context of a simple left-right symmetric theory. In this context neutrinos are Majorana fermions and their masses are generated at the quantum level through the Zee mechanism using the simplest Higgs sector. We show that the right-handed neutrinos are generically light and can give rise to large lepton flavor violating contributions to rare processes. We discuss the correlation between the collider constraints and the predictions for lepton flavor violating processes. We find that using the predictions for μ-> e gamma and μ-> e conversion together with the collider signatures one could test this theory in the near future.

Abstract: Based on the full BABAR data sample of 466.5 million B (B) over bar pairs, we present measurements of the electron spectrum from semileptonic B meson decays. We fit the inclusive electron spectrum to distinguish Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) suppressed B -> X(u)ev decays from the CKM-favored B -> X(u)ev decays, and from various other backgrounds, and determine the total semileptonic branching fraction B(B -> X(u)ev) = (10.34 +/- 0.04(stat) +/- 0.26(syst))%, averaged over B-+/- and B-0 mesons. We determine the spectrum and branching fraction for charmless B -> X(u)ev decays and extract the CKM element vertical bar V-ub vertical bar, by relying on four different QCD calculations based on the heavy quark expansion. While experimentally, the electron momentum region above 2.1 GeV/c is favored, because the background is relatively low, the uncertainties for the theoretical predictions are largest in the region near the kinematic endpoint. Detailed studies to assess the impact of these four predictions on the measurements of the electron spectrum, the branching fraction, and the extraction of the CKM matrix element vertical bar V-ub vertical bar are presented, with the lower limit on the electron momentum varied from 0.8 GeV/c to the kinematic endpoint. We determine V-ub vertical bar using each of these different calculations and find, vertical bar V-ub vertical bar = (3.794 +/- 0.107(exp) (+0.292)(-0.219) (SF) (+0.078)(-0.068)theory) x 10(-3) (De Fazio and Neubert), (4.563 +/- 0.126(exp) (+0.230)(+0.162)(-0.208)(-0.163)theory) x 10(-3) (Bosch, Lange, Neubert, and Paz), (3.959 +/- 0.104(exp -0.154)(SF-0.079)(+0.164)(+0.042) theory )x 10(-3) (Gambino, Giordano, Ossola, and Uraltsev), (3.848 +/- 0.108(exp -0.070)(theory)(+0.084)) x 10(-3) (dressed gluon exponentiation), where the stated uncertainties refer to the experimental uncertainties of the partial branching fraction measurement, the shape function parameters, and the theoretical calculations.