Abstract: We report a study of the suppressed B- -> DK-pi(+)pi(-) and favored B- -> D pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) decays, where the neutral D meson is detected through its decays to the K--/+pi(+/-) and CP -even K+K- and pi(+)pi(-) final states. The measurement is carried out using a proton-proton collision data sample collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1). We observe the first significant signals in the CP – even final states of the D meson for both the suppressed B- -> DK-pi(+)pi(-) and favored B- -> D pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) modes, as well as in the doubly Cabibbo suppressed D -> K+pi(-) final state of the B- -> D pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) decay. Evidence for the suppressed decay B- -> DK-pi(+)pi(-), with D -> K+pi(-), is also presented. From the observed yields in the B- -> DK-pi(+)pi(-), B- -> D pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) and their charge conjugate decay modes, the most probable value of the weak phase gamma corresponds to gamma = (74(-19)(+20))degrees. This is one of the most precise single-measurement determinations of gamma to date.

Abstract: We present an analysis of exclusive charmless semileptonic B-meson decays based on 377 x 10(6) B (B) over bar pairs recorded with the BABAR detector at the Y(4S) resonance. We select four event samples corresponding to the decay modes B-0 -> pi(-)l(+)v, B+ -> pi(0)l(+)v, B-0 -> rho(-)l(+)v, and B+ -> rho(0)l(+)v and find the measured branching fractions to be consistent with isospin symmetry. Assuming isospin symmetry, we combine the two B -> pi lv samples, and similarly the two B -> rho lv samples, and measure the branching fractions B(B-0 -> pi(-)l(+)v) = (1.41 +/- 0.05 +/- 0.07) x 10(-4) and B(B-0 -> rho(-)l(+)v) = (1.75 +/- 0.15 +/- 0.27) x 10(-4), where the errors are statistical and systematic. We compare the measured distribution in q(2), the momentum transfer squared, with predictions for the form factors from QCD calculations and determine the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element vertical bar V-ub vertical bar. Based on the measured partial branching fraction for B -> pi lv in the range q(2) < 12 GeV2 and the most recent QCD light-cone sum-rule calculations, we obtain vertical bar V-ub vertical bar = (3.78 +/- 0.13(-0.40)(+0.55)10(-3), where the errors refer to the experimental and theoretical uncertainties. From a simultaneous fit to the data over the full q(2) range and the FNAL/MILC lattice QCD results, we obtain vertical bar V-ub vertical bar = (2.95 +/- 0.31) x 10(-3) from B -> pi lv, where the error is the combined experimental and theoretical uncertainty.

Abstract: We report measurements of partial branching fractions for inclusive charmless semileptonic B decays (B) over bar -> X(u)l (v) over bar and the determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element vertical bar V-ub vertical bar. The analysis is based on a sample of 467 x 10(6) Y(4S) -> B (B) over bar decays recorded with the BABAR detector at the PEP- II e(+)e(-) storage rings. We select events in which the decay of one of the B mesons is fully reconstructed and an electron or a muon signals the semileptonic decay of the other B meson. We measure partial branching fractions Delta B in several restricted regions of phase space and determine the CKM element vertical bar V-ub vertical bar based on different QCD predictions. For decays with a charged lepton momentum p(l)* > 1.0 GeV in the B meson rest frame, we obtain Delta B = (1.80 +/- 0.13(stat) +/- 0.15(sys) +/- 0.02(theo)) x 10(-3) from a fit to the two-dimensional M-X – q(2) distribution. Here, M-X refers to the invariant mass of the final state hadron X and q(2) is the invariant mass squared of the charged lepton and neutrino. From this measurement we extract vertical bar V-ub vertical bar = (4.33 +/- 0.24(exp) +/- 0.15(theo)) x 10(-3) as the arithmetic average of four results obtained from four different QCD predictions of the partial rate. We separately determine partial branching fractions for (B) over bar (0) and B- decays and derive a limit on the isospin breaking in (B) over bar -> X(u)l (v) over bar decays.

Abstract: We report on analyses of tau lepton decays tau(-) -> eta K- nu(tau) and tau(-) -> eta pi(-) nu(tau), with eta -> pi(+) pi(-) pi(0), using 470 fb(-1) of data from the BABAR experiment at PEP-II, collected at center-of-mass energies at and near the Y(4S) resonance. We measure the branching fraction for the tau(-) -> eta K- nu(tau) decay mode, B(tau(-) -> eta K- nu(tau)) = (1.42 +/- 0.11(stat) +/- 0.07(syst)) x 10(-4), and report a 95% confidence level upper limit for the second-class current process tau(-) -> eta pi(-) nu(tau), B(tau(-) -> eta pi(-) nu(tau)) < 9.9 x 10(-5).

Abstract: In the minimal left-right model the choice of left-right symmetry is twofold: either generalized parity P or charge conjugation C. In the minimal model with spontaneously broken strict P, a large tree-level contribution to strong CP violation can be computed in terms of the spontaneous phase alpha. Searches for the neutron electric dipole moments then constrain the size of alpha. Following the latest update on indirect CP violation in the kaon sector, a bound on W-R mass at 20 TeV is set. Possible ways out of this bound require a further hypothesis, either a relaxation mechanism or explicit breaking of P. To this end, the chiral loop of the neutron electric dipole moment at next-to-leading order is recomputed and provides an estimate of the weak contribution. Combining this constraint with other CP-violating observables in the kaon sector allows for M-WR greater than or similar to 3 TeV. On the other hand, C symmetry is free from such constraints, leaving the right-handed scale within the experimental reach.