Abstract: We present a detailed, all-order study of gluon mass generation within the massless bound-state formalism, which constitutes the general framework for the systematic implementation of the Schwinger mechanism in non-Abelian gauge theories. The main ingredient of this formalism is the dynamical formation of bound states with vanishing mass, which give rise to effective vertices containing massless poles; these latter vertices, in turn, trigger the Schwinger mechanism, and allow for the gauge-invariant generation of an effective gluon mass. This particular approach has the conceptual advantage of relating the gluon mass directly to quantities that are intrinsic to the bound-state formation itself, such as the “transition amplitude'' and the corresponding ”bound-state wave function.'' As a result, the dynamical evolution of the gluon mass is largely determined by a Bethe-Salpeter equation that controls the dynamics of the relevant wave function, rather than the Schwinger-Dyson equation of the gluon propagator, as happens in the standard treatment. The precise structure and field-theoretic properties of the transition amplitude are scrutinized in a variety of independent ways. In particular, a parallel study within the linear-covariant (Landau) gauge and the background-field method reveals that a powerful identity, known to be valid at the level of conventional Green's functions, also relates the background and quantum transition amplitudes. Despite the differences in the ingredients and terminology employed, the massless bound-state formalism is absolutely equivalent to the standard approach based on Schwinger-Dyson equations. In fact, a set of powerful relations allows one to demonstrate the exact coincidence of the integral equations governing the momentum evolution of the gluon mass in both frameworks.

Abstract: The LHCb Collaboration has recently observed two narrow baryon resonances with beauty. Their masses and decay modes look consistent with the quark model orbitally excited states Lambda(b)(5912) and Lambda(b)*(5920), with quantum numbers J(P) = 1/2(-) and 3/2(-), respectively. We predict the existence of these states within a unitarized meson-baryon coupled-channel dynamical model, which implements heavy-quark spin symmetry. Masses, quantum numbers and couplings of these resonances to the different meson-baryon channels are obtained. We find that the resonances Lambda(0)(b)(5912) and Lambda(0)(b)(5920) are heavy-quark spin symmetry partners, which naturally explains their approximate mass degeneracy. Corresponding bottom-strange baryon resonances are predicted at Xi(b)(6035.4) (J(P) = 1/2(-)) and Xi(b)(6043.3) (J(P) = 3/2(-)). The two Lambda(b) and two Xi(b) resonances complete a multiplet of the combined symmetry SU(3)-flavor times heavy-quark spin.

Abstract: We search for di-muon decays of a low-mass Higgs boson (A(0)) produced in radiative Gamma(1S) decays. The Gamma(1S) sample is selected by tagging the pion pair in the Gamma(2S, 3S) -> pi(+)pi(-) Gamma(1S) transitions, using a data sample of 92.8 x 10(6) Gamma(2S) and 116.8 x 10(6) Gamma(3S) events collected by the BABAR detector. We find no evidence for A(0) production and set 90% confidence level upper limits on the product branching fraction B(Gamma(1S) -> gamma Lambda(0)) x B(Lambda(0)->mu(+)mu(-)) in the range of (0.28 – 9.7) x 10(-6) for 0.212 <= m(A0) <= 9.20 GeV/c(2). The results are combined with our previous measurements of Gamma(2S,3S) -> gamma Lambda(0), Lambda(0) -> mu(+)mu(-) to set limits on the effective coupling of the b quark to the Lambda(0).