title: Fake CPT Violation in Disappearance Neutrino Oscillations

abstract:
  We make an analysis of the fake CPT-violating asymmetries between the
survival probabilities of neutrinos and antineutrinos, induced by the
terrestrial matter effects, in three different scenarios of long-baseline
neutrino oscillation experiments with L=730 km, L=2100 km and L=3200 km. In
particular, the dependence of those asymmetries on the Dirac-type CP-violating
phase of the lepton flavor mixing matrix is examined.


title:
Rephasing Invariants of CP and T Violation in the Four-Neutrino Mixing
  Models

abstract:
  We calculate the rephasing invariants of CP and T violation in a favorable
parametrization of the 4x4 lepton flavor mixing matrix. Their relations with
the CP- and T-violating asymmetries in neutrino oscillations are derived, and
the matter effects are briefly discussed.


title: Recent results from heavy ion collisions

abstract:
  Systematic trends of baryon transport, chemical freeze-out, and kinetic
freeze-out in high energy nuclear collisions are presented. Further
measurements of particles with heavy flavors are proposed in order to shed
light on collision dynamics at parton level.


title: LMA MSW Solution from the Inverted Hierarchical Model of Neutrinos

abstract:
  We examine whether the inverted hierarchical model of neutrinos is compatible
with the explanation of the large mixing angles (LMA)MSW solution of the solar
neutrino problem. The left-handed Majorana neutrino mass matrix for the
inverted hierarchical model, is generated through the seesaw mechanism using
the diagonal form of the Dirac neutrino mass matrix and the non-diagonal
texture of the right-handed Majorana mass matrix. In a model independent way,
we construct a specific form of the charged lepton mass matrix having a special
structure in 1-2 block, which contribution to the leptonic mixing (MNS) matrix
leads to the predictions $\sin^{2}2\theta_{12}=0.8517$,
$\sin^{2}2\theta_{23}=0.9494$, and $|V_{e3}|=0.159$ at the unification scale.
These predictions are found to be consistent with the LMA MSW solution of the
solar neutrino problem. The inverted hierarchical model is also found to be
stable against the quantum radiative corrections in the MSSM. A numerical
analysis of the renormalisation group equations (RGEs) in the MSSM shows a mild
decrease of the mixing angles with the decrease of energy scale and the
corresponding values of the neutrino mixings at the top-quark mass scale are
found as $\sin^{2}2\theta_{12}=0.8472$, $\sin^{2}2\theta_{23}=0.9399$,
$|V_{e3}|=0.1509$ respectively.


title:
Massive quark propagator and competition between chiral and diquark
  condensate

abstract:
  The Green-function approach has been extended to the moderate baryon density
region in the framework of an extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model, and the
thermodynamic potential with both chiral and diquark condensates has been
evaluated by using the massive quark propagator. The phase structure along the
chemical potential direction has been investigated and the strong competition
between the chiral and diquark condensate has been analyzed by investigating
the influence of the diquark condensate on the sharp Fermi surface. The
influence of the diquark condensate on the quark properties has been
investigated, even though the quarks in the color breaking phase are very
different from that in the chiral breaking phase, the difference between quarks
in different colors is very small.


title: Inverting a Supernova: Neutrino Mixing, Temperatures and Binding Energy

abstract:
  We show that the temperatures of the emergent non-electron neutrinos and the
binding energy released by a galactic Type II supernova are determinable,
assuming the Large Mixing Angle (LMA) solution is correct, from observations at
the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) and at Super-Kamiokande (SK). If the
neutrino mass hierarchy is inverted, either a lower or upper bound can be
placed on the neutrino mixing angle $\theta_{13}$, and the hierarchy can be
deduced for adiabatic transitions. For the normal hierarchy, neither can
$\theta_{13}$ be constrained nor can the hierarchy be determined. Our
conclusions are qualitatively unchanged for the proposed Hyper-Kamiokande
detector.


title: Alternative approach to $b->s \gamma$ in the uMSSM

abstract:
  The gluino contributions to the $C'_{7,8}$ Wilson coefficients for $b->s
\gamma$ are calculated within the unconstrained MSSM. New stringent bounds on
the $\delta^{RL}_{23}$ and $\delta^{RR}_{23}$ mass insertion parameters are
obtained in the limit in which the SM and SUSY contributions to $C_{7,8}$
approximately cancel. Such a cancellation can plausibly appear within several
classes of SUSY breaking models in which the trilinear couplings exhibit a
factorized structure proportional to the Yukawa matrices. Assuming this
cancellation takes place, we perform an analysis of the $b->s \gamma$ decay. We
show that in a supersymmetric world such an alternative is reasonable and it is
possible to saturate the $b->s \gamma$ branching ratio and produce a CP
asymmetry of up to 20%, from only the gluino contribution to $C'_{7,8}$
coefficients. Using photon polarization a LR asymmetry can be defined that in
principle allows for the $C_{7,8}$ and $C'_{7,8}$ contributions to the $b->s
\gamma$ decay to be disentangled. In this scenario no constraints on the ``sign
of $\mu$'' can be derived.


title: Calculation of pure annihilation type decay $B^+ \to D_s^+ \phi$

abstract:
  The rare decay $B^+ \to D_s^+ \phi$ can occur only via annihilation type
diagrams in the standard model. We calculate this decay in perturbative QCD
approach with Sudakov resummation. We found that the branching ratio of $B^+
\to D_s^+ \phi$ is of order $10^{-7}$ which may be measured in the near future
by KEK and SLAC $B$ factories.
  The small branching ratio predicted in standard model makes this channel
sensitive to new physics contributions.


title: Non-Abelian Medium Effects in Quark-Gluon Plasma

abstract:
  Based on the kinetic theory, the non-Abelian medium property of hot
Quark-Gluon Plasma is investigated. The nonlinearity of the plasma comes from
two aspects: The nonlinear wave-wave interaction and self-interaction of color
field. The non-Abelian color permittivity is obtained by expanding the kinetic
equations to third order. As an application, the nonlinear Landau damping rate
and the nonlinear eigenfrequency shift are calculated in the longwave length
limit.


title: Flavor-Change with Ultra-Light Sbottom and Gluinos

abstract:
  Implications of a 2 - 5.5 GeV sbottom and 12 - 16 GeV gluino masses for rare
B decay phenomenology are discussed. An effective Hamiltonian is constructed in
which the gluinos are integrated out and a \tilde{b} squark remains among the
light flavor degrees of freedom. Restrictive constraints come from $b \to s
\gamma and b \to sg, but they allow a substantially enhanced inclusive b decay
rate into charmless hadronic final states, and {\cal O}(10%) direct CP
asymmetries in $B \to X_s \gamma and B^\pm \to K^0 \pi^\pm decays, which are an
order of magnitude larger than in the Standard Model. New contributions to B_s
mixing are negligible but significant effects in B_d mixing may be possible.


title: The Higgs puzzle: experiment and theory

abstract:
  The present experimental and theoretical knowledge of the physics of
electroweak symmetry breaking is reviewed. Data still favor a light Higgs
boson, of a kind that can be comfortably accommodated in the Standard Model or
in its Minimal Supersymmetric extension, but exhibit a non-trivial structure
that leaves some open questions. The available experimental information may
still be reconciled with the absence of a light Higgs boson, but the price to
pay looks excessive. Recent theoretical ideas, linking the weak scale with the
size of possible extra spatial dimensions, are briefly mentioned. It is
stressed once more that experiments at high-energy colliders, such as the
Tevatron and the LHC, are the crucial tool for eventually solving the Higgs
puzzle.


title: Pion Rescattering in Two-Pion Decay of Heavy Quarkonia

abstract:
  The role of pion rescattering in $\pi\pi$ decay of radially excited heavy
quarkonia modeled in terms of a $Q\pi\pi$ coupling, is investigated within the
framework of the covariant Blankenbecler-Sugar equation. The effects of pion
rescattering (or pion exchange) are shown to be large, unless the coupling of
the two-pion system to the heavy quarks is mediated by a fairly light scalar
$\sigma$ meson, which couples to the gradients of the pion fields. The
Hamiltonian model for the quarkonium states is formed of linear scalar
confining, screened one-gluon exchange and instanton induced interaction terms.
The widths and energy distributions of the basic decays $\psi'\to J/\psi
\pi\pi$ and $\Upsilon'\to \Upsilon \pi\pi$ are shown to be satisfactorily
described by this model. The implications of this model for the decays of the
$\Upsilon(3S)$ state are discussed.


title:
Fermion Mass Hierarchy in Six Dimensional SO(10) Grand Unified Theory on
  a $T^2/Z_2$ Orbifold

abstract:
  We suggest a simple supersymmetric SO(10) grand unified theory in 6
dimensions which produces the suitable fermion mass hierarchies. The 5th and
6th dimensional coordinates are compactified on a $T^2/Z_2$ orbifold. The gauge
and Higgs fields propagate in 6 dimensions while ordinal chiral matter fields
are localized in 4 dimensions. The orbifolding and boundary conditions realize
the gauge symmetry reduction,
  $SU(3)_C\times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y \times U(1)_X$, and the triplet-doublet
mass splitting. We introduce extra three sets of vector-like heavy fields: two
sets propagate in 6 dimensions and chiral fields which couple to them are
defined as the 1st generation, and one set propagates in 5 dimensions and
chiral fields which couple to them are defined as the 2nd generation. The
suitable fermion mass hierarchies are generated by integrating out these
vector-like heavy fields.


title: Status of the CKM matrix

abstract:
  An updated determination of the parameters of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa
matrix is presented.


title: Combining Supersymmetric Dark Matter with Recent Accelerator Data

abstract:
  In the framework of the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model we
discuss the impact of the recent experimental information, especially from the
E821 Brookhaven experiment on $g_{\mu}-2$ along with the light Higgs boson mass
bound from LEP, in delineating regions of the parameters which are consistent
with cosmological data. The effect of these to the Dark Matter direct searches
is also discussed.


title: $K^+\to \pi^+\nu\bar\nu$: a rising star on the stage of flavour physics

abstract:
  Motivated by the new experimental information reported by the BNL--E787
Collaboration, we analyse the present impact and the future prospects opened by
the measurement of $\br(K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar\nu)$. Although still affected by a
large error, the BNL--E787 result favours values of $\br(K^+\to
\pi^+\nu\bar\nu)$ substantially larger than what expected within the Standard
Model. As a result, this data already provide non-trivial constraints on the
unitarity triangle, when interpreted within the Standard Model framework. We
stress the importance of the clean relation between $\br(K^+\to
\pi^+\nu\bar\nu)$, $\sin2\beta$ and $\Delta M_{B_d}/\Delta M_{B_s}$ that in the
next few years could provide one of the deepest probes of the Standard Model in
the sector of quark-flavour dynamics. A speculative discussion about possible
non-standard interpretations of a large $\br(K^+\to \pi^+\nu\bar\nu)$ is also
presented. Two main scenarios naturally emerge: those with direct new-physics
contributions to the $s \to d \nu\bar\nu$ amplitude and those with direct
new-physics effects only in $B_d$--$\bar B_d$ mixing. Realistic models
originating these two scenarios and possible future strategies to clearly
identify them are briefly discussed.


title: Inflation

abstract:
  Inflationary cosmology is reviewed. Particular attention is given to
processes of creation.


title: Quark coalescence in the mid rapidity region at RHIC

abstract:
  We utilize the ALCOR model for mid-rapidity hadron number predictions at AGS,
SPS and RHIC energies. We present simple fits for the energy dependence of
stopping and quark production.


title:
Effects of random matter density fluctuations on the neutrino
  oscillation transition probabilities in the Earth

abstract:
  In this paper, we investigate the effects of random fluctuations of the Earth
matter density for long baselines on the neutrino oscillation transition
probabilities. We especially identify relevant parameters characterizing the
matter density noise and calculate their effects by averaging over statistical
ensembles of a large number of matter density profiles. For energies and
baselines appropriate to neutrino factories, absolute errors on the relevant
appearance probabilities are at the level of $|\Delta P_{\alpha \beta}| \sim
10^{-4}$ (with perhaps $|\Delta P_{\mu e}|/P_{\mu e} \sim 1%$ for neutrinos),
whereby a modest improvement in understanding of the geophysical data should
render such effects unimportant.


title:
Production of intermediate-mass dileptons in relativistic heavy ion
  collisions

abstract:
  The production of intermediate mass dileptons in ultrarelativistic nuclear
collisions at SPS energies is studied. The acceptance and detector resolution
inherent to measurements by the NA50 experimental collaboration are accurately
modeled. The measured centrality dependence of the intermediate mass lepton
pair excess is also addressed.


title: Nonlinear QCD Evolution: Saturation without Unitarization

abstract:
  We consider the perturbative description of saturation based on the nonlinear
QCD evolution equation of Balitsky and Kovchegov (BK). Although the nonlinear
corrections lead to saturation of the scattering amplitude locally in impact
parameter space, we show that they do not unitarize the total cross section.
The total cross section for the scattering of a strongly interacting probe on a
hadronic target is found to grow exponentially with rapidity. The origin of
this violation of unitarity is the presence of long range Coulomb fields away
from the saturation region. The growth of these fields with rapidity is not
tempered by the nonlinearity of the BK equation.


title: The CDF-II Online Silicon Vertex Tracker

abstract:
  The Online Silicon Vertex Tracker is the new CDF-II level 2 trigger processor
designed to reconstruct 2-D tracks within the Silicon Vertex Detector with high
speed and accuracy. By performing a precise measurement of impact parameters
the SVT allows tagging online B events which typically show displaced secondary
vertices. Physics simulations show that this will greatly enhance the CDF-II
B-physics capability. The SVT has been fully assembled and operational since
the beginning of Tevatron RunII in April 2001. In this paper we briefly review
the SVT design and physics motivation and then describe its performance during
the early phase (April-October 2001) of run II.


title: QCD Loop Corrections to Top Production and Decay at e^+ e^- Colliders

abstract:
  We present a computation of QCD next-to-leading order virtual corrections to
the top production and decay process at linear colliders. The top quarks are
allowed to be off-shell and the production and decay subprocesses are treated
together, thus allowing for interference effects. The framework employed for
our computation is the double pole approximation (DPA). We describe the
implementation of this approximation for the top production and decay process
and compare it with the implementation of DPA for the evaluation of QED
corrections to the W pair production at LEP II. Similarities and differences
between the two cases are pointed out. One result of interest is the incomplete
cancelation of interference corrections. Other results include values for the
total NLO top production cross section, and the impact the nonfactorizable
(interference) corrections have on the top invariant mass distribution.


title: Discerning Noncommutative Extra Dimensions

abstract:
  Experimental limits on the violation of four-dimensional Lorentz invariance
imply that noncommutativity among ordinary spacetime dimensions must be small.
Noncommutativity among extra, compactified spatial dimensions, however, is far
less constrained and may have discernable collider signatures. Here we study
the experimental consequences of noncommutative QED in six dimensions, with
noncommutativity restricted to a TeV-scale bulk. Assuming the orbifold T^2/Z_2,
we construct the effective four-dimensional theory and study interactions
unique to the noncommutative case. New vertices involving the Kaluza-Klein (KK)
excitations of the photon yield order 100% corrections to the pair production
and to the decays of some of the lighter modes. We show that these effects are
difficult to resolve at the LHC, but are likely within the reach of a future
Very Large Hadron Collider (VLHC).


title: Classical stability of U(1)_A domain walls in dense matter QCD

abstract:
  It was recently shown that there exists metastable U(1)_A domain wall
configurations in high-density QCD (\mu >> 1 GeV). In the following we will
assess the stability of such non-trivial field configurations at intermediate
densities (\mu < 1 GeV). The existence of such configurations at intermediate
densities could have interesting consequences for the physics of neutron stars
with high core density.


title: \Lambda_b \to \Lambda J/\psi decay in perturbative QCD

abstract:
  We calculate the amplitudes involved in the heavy baryon nonleptonic decay
$\Lambda_b \rar \Lambda J/\psi$ using perturbative QCD factorization theorem,
which are expressed as convolutions of hard $b$ quark decay amplitudes with the
$\Lambda_b$ baryon, $\Lambda$ baryon and $J/\psi$ meson distribution
amplitudes. It is found that nonfactorizable contributions dominate over
factorizable ones. Because of soft cancellation in pairs of nonfactorizable
diagrams, the $\Lambda_b \rar \Lambda J/\psi$ decay is characterized by a large
scale, such that perturbative QCD is applicable. Employing the distribution
amplitudes determined in our previous works and from QCD sum rules, we derive
the branching ratio $B(\Lambda_b \rar \Lambda J/\psi)=(1.7 \sim 5.3)\times
10^{-4}$ in agreement with data. We predict an asymmetry parameter $\alpha=
-0.17 \sim -0.14$ associated with the anisotropic angular distribution of the
$\Lambda$ baryons produced in polarized $\Lambda_b$ baryon decays.


title: B meson light-cone distribution amplitudes and heavy-quark symmetry

abstract:
  We present a systematic study of the B meson light-cone distribution
amplitudes which are relevant for the QCD factorization approach for the
exclusive B meson decays. We construct representations for the quark-antiquark
distribution amplitudes in terms of independent dynamical degrees of freedom,
which exactly satisfy the QCD equations of motion and constraints from
heavy-quark symmetry.


title: Confinement and chiral symmetry breaking via a domainlike mean field

abstract:
  Singular gauge fields in the partition function for QCD can lead to a
domain-like picture for the QCD vacuum by virtue of constraints on quantum
fluctuations at the singularities. With a simple model of hyperspherical
domains with interiors of constant field strength we show that the main
features of gluon condensation and an area law for static quarks can be
realised.The Dirac operator in such a background is exactly soluble. Chirality
properties of the solutions show agreement with recent lattice results.


title:
Final State Rescattering and Color-suppressed \bar B^0-> D^{(*)0} h^0
  Decays

abstract:
  The color-suppressed \bar B^0-> D^{(*)0}\pi^0, D^{(*)0}\eta, D^0\omega decay
modes have just been observed for the first time. The rates are all larger than
expected, hinting at the presence of final state interactions. Considering \bar
B^0-> D^{(*)0}\pi^0 mode alone, an elastic D^{(*)}\pi -> D^{(*)}\pi
rescattering phase difference \delta \equiv \delta_{1/2} - \delta_{3/2} \sim
30^\circ would suffice, but the \bar B^0-> D^{(*)0}\eta, D^0\omega modes compel
one to extend the elastic formalism to SU(3) symmetry. We find that a universal
a_2/a_1=0.25 and two strong phase differences 20^\circ \sim \theta < \delta <
\delta^\prime \sim 50^\circ can describe both DP and D^*P modes rather well;
the large phase of order 50^\circ is needed to account for the strength of {\it
both} the D^{(*)0}\pi^0 and D^{(*)0}\eta modes. For DV modes, the nonet
symmetry reduces the number of physical phases to just one, giving better
predictive power. Two solutions are found. We predict the rates of the \bar
B^0-> D^{+}_s K^-, D^{*+}_s K^-, D^0\rho^0, D^+_s K^{*-} and D^0\phi modes, as
well as \bar B^0-> D^{0}\bar K^0, D^{*0}\bar K^0, D^{0}\bar K^{*0} modes. The
formalism may have implications for rates and CP asymmetries of charmless
modes.


title:
Longitudinal polarization asymmetry of leptons in the pure leptonic B
  decays

abstract:
  Longitudinal lepton polarization asymmetry in B_q -> l l (q = d, s$ and l =
e, mu, tau) decays is investigated. The analysis is done in a general manner by
using the effective operators approach. It is shown that the longitudinal
lepton polarization asymmetry would provide a direct search for the scalar and
pseudoscalar type interactions, which are induced in all variants of
Higgs-doublet models.


title: Allowed Eta Decay Modes and Chiral Symmetry

abstract:
  Recently, the development of chiral perturbation theory has allowed the
generation of rigorous low energy theorems for various hadronic processes based
only on the chiral invariance of the underlying QCD Lagrangian. Such techniques
are highly developed and well tested in the domain of pionic and kaonic
reactions. In this note we point out that with the addition of a few additional
and reasonable assumptions similar predictive power is available for processes
involving the eta meson.


title:
Importance of reaction volume in hadronic collisions: Canonical
  enhancement

abstract:
  We study the canonical flavor enhancement arising from exact conservation of
strangeness, and charm flavor. Both the theoretical motivation, and the
practical consequences are explored. We argue using qualitative theoretical
arguments and quantitative evaluation, that this proposal to reevaluate
strangeness signature of quark--gluon plasma is not able to explain the
majority of available experimental results.


title: Proton Decay in the Semi-Simple Unification

abstract:
  Semi-simple unification is one of a model which naturally solves two
difficulties in the supersymmetric grand unification theory: doublet-triplet
splitting problem and suppression of dimension 5 proton decay. We analyzed the
dimension 6 proton decay of this model using perturbative analysis at the
next-to-leading order. The life time of proton is 3 \times 10^{34} - 10^{35}
years for wide range of SUSY breaking parameters, and there is an intriguing
possibility of observing proton decay signals in the next-generation water
Cherenkov detectors such as Hyper-Kamiokande and TITAND. Several uncertainties
in this prediction are also discussed.


title: Color-flavor locked strangelets and their detection

abstract:
  Strange quark matter in a color-flavor locked state is significantly more
bound than ``ordinary'' strange quark matter. This increases the likelihood of
strangelet metastability or even absolute stability. Properties of color-flavor
locked strangelets are discussed and compared to ordinary strangelets. Apart
from differences in binding energy, the main difference is related to the
charge. A statistical sample of strangelets may allow experimental distinction
of the two. Preliminary estimates indicate that the flux of strangelets in
galactic cosmic rays could be sufficient to allow for strangelet discovery and
study in the upcoming Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02 cosmic ray experiment
on the International Space Station.


title: Isospin violation in low-energy charged pion-kaon scattering

abstract:
  We evaluate the isospin breaking corrections to the scattering amplitude
\pi^- K^+ -> \pi^- K^+ at threshold in the framework of chiral perturbation
theory. This channel is of particular interest for the strong 2S-2P energy
level shift in pion-kaon bound states. While a prediction of this level shift
is hampered by a large uncertainty in the isoscalar scattering length, we find
only a moderate uncertainty of about 3% in the electromagnetic corrections
which are relevant for the extraction of the scattering lengths from experiment


title: On A Recent Claim Concerning $\tau (D_s)/\tau (D^0)$

abstract:
  It has been suggested that the observed $D_s - D^0$ lifetime difference can
be `understood' as due to $SU(3)_{Fl}$ breaking in the phase spaces for the
exclusive $D^0$ and $D_s$ channels `removing' the need for weak annihilation.
It is pointed out that several of the statements in this argument are
misleading or even inconsistent with a state-of-the-art description of heavy
flavour decays based on the operator product expansion.


title: Semi-numerical resummation of event shapes

abstract:
  For many event-shape observables, the most difficult part of a resummation in
the Born limit is the analytical treatment of the observable's dependence on
multiple emissions, which is required at single logarithmic accuracy. We
present a general numerical method, suitable for a large class of event shapes,
which allows the resummation specifically of these single logarithms. It is
applied to the case of the thrust major and the oblateness, which have so far
defied analytical resummation and to the two-jet rate in the Durham algorithm,
for which only a subset of the single logs had up to now been calculated.


title: Dark Matter Detection Rates In SUGRA Models

abstract:
  Direct detection of Milky Way wimps are discussed within the framework of
R-parity conserving SUGRA models with grand unification at M_G. Two questions
are discussed: what SUGRA models can account for the DAMA data if this data is
confirmed, and is the full SUGRA parameter space accessible to future planned
detectors. Experimental constraints of the Higgs mass bound, the b-> s\gamma
bound, relic density constraints (including all co-annihilation channels), etc.
are imposed. In addition, the effect of the possible muon g - 2 anomaly are
examined. For mSUGRA, we find that the Higgs mass and b\to s\gamma constraint
puts a lower bound m_{1/2} > (300 - 400) GeV (i.e. m_{\tilde\chi^0_1} > (120 -
160) GeV) for \tan\beta < 50, and thus the largest theoretical
neutralino-proton cross sections still lie significantly below the DAMA 3\sigma
lower bound. (Predictions for \tan\beta> 50 become sensitive to the precise
value of m_t and m_b.) If in addition one imposes the muon anomaly constraint,
\mu must be positive and an upper bound of m_{1/2}< 850 GeV for \tan\beta < 50
is obtained. More generally, if \mu >0 and m_{1/2} < 1 TeV, the cross sections
are >~ 10^{-10} pb, and hence this parameter space would be mostly accessible
to planned high sensitivity detectors. For non-minimal SUGRA models, the cross
sections can be considerably larger, and a simple SU(5) model with
non-universal soft breaking in the Higgs and third generation is seen to give
cross sections in the DAMA range for \tan\beta >~ 15 with m_{\tilde\chi^0_1} >
80 GeV, and minimum cross sections >~10^{-10} pb for \mu > 0.


title: Oscillation Induced Neutrino Asymmetry Growth in the Early Universe

abstract:
  We study the dynamics of active-sterile neutrino oscillations in the early
universe using full momentum-dependent quantum-kinetic equations. These
equations are too complicated to allow for an analytical treatment, and
numerical solution is greatly complicated due to very pronounced and narrow
structures in the momentum variable introduced by resonances. Here we introduce
a novel dynamical discretization of the momentum variable which overcomes this
problem. As a result we can follow the evolution of neutrino ensemble
accurately well into the stable growing phase. Our results confirm the
existence of a "chaotic region" of mixing parameters, for which the final sign
of the asymmetry, and hence the SBBN prediction of He(4)-abundance cannot be
accurately determined.


title: Brane-World Multigravity

abstract:
  In this thesis, we discuss the idea of multigravity, namely the possibility
that a significant component of gravity that we feel at intermediate distances
(1 mm < r < 10^26 cm) is due to massive but ultralight gravitons. We
demonstrate how this phenomenon can be realized in brane-world models in a
spacetime with more than four dimensions and discuss how modifications of
gravity at cosmological scales emerge as a consequence. Firstly, we consider
five dimensional multigravity models with flat branes. We see how the existence
of freely moving negative tension branes gives rise to ultralight graviton
Kaluza-Klein states. Secondly, we study the moduli corresponding to the
position of the branes and the size of the extra dimension, the radions and the
dilaton respectively. We show that the radions corresponding to negative
tension branes have wrong sign kinetic term. We also derive a stabilization
condition for the dilaton in a brane model with general bulk scalar field
dynamics. Thirdly, we show how we can reproduce the five dimensional
multigravity models with Anti-de Sitter branes of positive tension only.
Moreover, we demonstrate how the van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov discontinuity can be
circumvented at tree level in Anti-de Sitter space. Finally, we discuss how the
above multigravity models can be replicated in six dimensions with flat
positive tension branes. This last possibility is the first theoretically and
phenomenologically viable realization of the multigravity scenario.


title: Probing supernova physics with neutrino oscillations

abstract:
  We point out that solar neutrino oscillations with large mixing angle as
evidenced in current solar neutrino data have a strong impact on strategies for
diagnosing collapse-driven supernova (SN) through neutrino observations. Such
oscillations induce a significant deformation of the energy spectra of
neutrinos, thereby allowing us to obtain otherwise inaccessible features of SN
neutrino spectra. We demonstrate that one can determine temperatures and
luminosities of non-electron flavor neutrinos by observing bar{nu}_{e} from
galactic SN in massive water Cherenkov detectors by the charged current
reactions on protons.


title: Transplanckian Collisions at the LHC and Beyond

abstract:
  Elastic collisions in the transplanckian region, where the center-of-mass
energy is much larger than the fundamental gravity mass scale, can be described
by linearized general relativity and known quantum-mechanical effects as long
as the momentum transfer of the process is sufficiently small. For larger
momentum transfer, non-linear gravitational effects become important and,
although a computation is lacking, black-hole formation is expected to dominate
the dynamics. We discuss how elastic transplanckian collisions can be used at
high-energy colliders to study, in a quantitative and model-independent way,
theories in which gravity propagates in flat extra dimensions. At LHC energies,
however, incalculable quantum-gravity contributions may significantly affect
the experimental signal.


title: Color Superconductivity with Non-Degenerate Quarks

abstract:
  In dense quark matter, the response of the color superconducting gaps to a
small variation, $\delta\mu$, in the chemical potential of the strange quark
was studied. The approximation of three massless flavors of quarks and a
general ansatz for the color flavor structure of the gap matrix was used. The
general pole structure of the quasi-particle propagator in this ansatz is
presented. The gap equation was solved using both an NJL interaction model and
perturbative single gluon exchange at moderate densities and results are
presented for varying values of $\delta\mu$. Quantitative and qualitative
differences in the dependence of the gaps on $\delta\mu$ were found.


title: The stau exchange contribution to muon g-2 in the decoupling solution

abstract:
  We study the possibility that the lepton-flavor changing process can induce
the suitable magnitude of the muon anomalous magnetic moment (g_\mu -2) in the
decoupling solution to the flavor problem in the minimal supersymmetric
standard model. Our analyses introduce the flavor mixings of left- and
right-handed stau and smuon phenomenologically. It is found that if both the
left- and right-handed sleptons have sizable flavor mixings, the correction to
g_\mu -2 from the lighter slepton can reach to 10^{-9} while the correction to
the branching ratio of \tau \to \mu \gamma satisfies the current experimental
bound. On the other hand, when only the left-handed or right-handed sleptons
have the large flavor mixing, the suitable magnitude of the correction to
g_\mu-2 is not realized owing to the experimental bound of \tau \to \mu \gamma.


title: Lepton pair decays of the $K_L$ meson in the light-front model

abstract:
  We analyze $K_L$ lepton pair decays of $K_L \to l^+\l^-\gamma$ and $K_L \to
l^+l^-l'^+l'^-$ $(l, l'=e, \mu)$ within the framework of the light-front QCD
approach (LFQA). With the $K_L \to \gamma^* \gamma^*$ form factors evaluated in
a model with the LFQA, we calculate the decay branching ratios and find out
that our results are all consistent with the experimental data. In addition, we
study $K_L \to l^+l^-$ decays. We point out that our prediction on $K_L\to
e^+e^-$ is about 20% smaller than that in the ChPT. We also discuss whether one
could extract the short-distance physics from $K_L\to \mu^+\mu^-$.


title:
Testing Supersymmetry in the Associated Production of CP-odd and Charged
  Higgs Bosons

abstract:
  In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), the masses of the
charged Higgs boson ($H^\pm$) and the CP-odd scalar ($A$) are related by
$M_{H^+}^2=M_A^2+m_W^2$. Furthermore, because the coupling of $W^-$-$A$-$H^+$
is fixed by gauge interaction, the tree level production rate of $q \bar q' \to
W^{\pm \ast} \to A H^\pm$ depends only on one supersymmetry parameter --the
mass ($M_A$) of $A$. We show that to a good approximation this conclusion also
holds at the one-loop level. Consequently, this process can be used to
distinguish MSSM from its alternatives (such as a general two-Higgs-doublet
model) by verifying the above mass relation, and to test the prediction of the
MSSM on the product of the decay branching ratios of $A$ and $H^\pm$ in terms
of only one single parameter -- $M_A$.


title:
Predictions for azimuthal asymmetries in pion and kaon production in
  SIDIS off a longitudinally polarized deuterium target at HERMES

abstract:
  Predictions are made for azimuthal asymmetries in pion and kaon production
from SIDIS off a longitudinally polarized deuterium target for HERMES
kinematics, based on information on the 'Collins fragmentation function' from
DELPHI data and on predictions for the transversity distribution function from
non-perturbative calculations in the chiral quark-soliton model. There are no
free parameters in the approach, which has been already successfully applied to
explain the azimuthal asymmetries from SIDIS off polarized proton targets
observed by HERMES and SMC.


title: Recent Progress in Neutrino Astrophysics

abstract:
  Recent progress in neutrino physics has been rapid, to a large extent thanks
to observations of neutrinos produced in astrophysical environments. Here, we
review the current standing on such questions as neutrino masses and mixings,
focusing mainly on the interplay between neutrino physics, astrophysics and
cosmology.


title: Neutron-Proton High-Energy Charge Exchange Scattering

abstract:
  The high energy proton-neutron charge exchange scattering reaction is studied
in an effective hadron model for the energy range of s from 45.9 to 414.61
GeV*GeV. The main features of the observed differential cross section, the
forward peak and the scaling behavior over a large energy region, are well
reproduced.


title: Graviton Production at CLIC

abstract:
  Direct production of Kaluza-Klein states in the TeV range is studied for the
experimental environment at the multi-TeV $e^+e^-$ collider CLIC. The
sensitivity of such data to model parameters is discussed for the
Randall-Sundrum(RS) and TeV scale extra dimensional models.


title: Corrections to Fermi's Golden Rule in $\phi \to K\bar{K}$ Decays

abstract:
  We analyze the decays $\phi \to K\bar{K}$ utilizing a formulation of
transition rates which explicitly exhibits corrections to Fermi's Golden Rule.
These corrections arise in systems in which the phase space and/or matrix
element varies rapidly with energy, as happens in $\phi \to K\bar{K}$, which is
just above threshold. We show that the theoretical corrections resolve a
puzzling $5\sigma$ discrepancy between theory and experiment for the branching
ratio $R = \Gamma (\phi \to K^+K^-)/\Gamma(\phi \to K^0\bar{K}^0)$.


title:
Comparison of LMA and LOW Solar Solution Predictions in an SO(10) GUT
  Model

abstract:
  Within the framework of an SO(10) GUT model that can accommodate both the LMA
and LOW solar neutrino mixing solutions by appropriate choice of the
right-handed Majorana matrix elements, we present explicit predictions for the
neutrino oscillation parameters \Delta m^2_{21}, \sin^2 2\theta_{12}, \sin^2
2\theta_{23}, \sin^2 2\theta_{13}, and \delta_{CP}. Given the observed near
maximality of the atmospheric mixing, the model favors the LMA solution and
predicts that \delta_{CP} is small. The suitability of Neutrino Superbeams and
Neutrino Factories for precision tests of the two model versions is discussed.


title: Realistic Anomaly Mediation with Bulk Gauge Fields

abstract:
  We present a simple general framework for realistic models of supersymmetry
breaking driven by anomaly mediation. We consider a 5-dimensional "brane
universe" where the visible and hidden sectors are localized on different
branes, and the standard model gauge bosons propagate in the bulk. In this
framework there can be charged scalar messengers that have contact interactions
with the hidden sector, either localized in the hidden sector or in the bulk.
These scalars obtain soft masses that feed into visible sector scalar masses at
two loop order via bulk gauge interactions. This contribution is automatically
flavor-blind, and can be naturally positive. If the messengers are in the bulk
this contribution is automatically the same order of magnitude as the anomaly
mediated contribution, independent of the brane spacing. If the messengers are
localized to a brane the two effects are of the same order for relatively small
brane spacings. The gaugino masses and A terms are determined completely by
anomaly mediation. In order for anomaly mediation to dominate over radion
mediation the radion must be is stabilized in a manner that preserves
supersymmetry, with supergravity effects included. We show that this occurs in
simple models. We also show that the mu problem can be solved by the vacuum
expectation value of a singlet in this framework.


title: Genuine Correlations in Hadronic Z$^0$ Decays

abstract:
  Correlations among hadrons with the same electric charge produced in Z$^0$
decays are studied using the high statistics data collected from 1991 through
1995 with the OPAL detector at LEP. Normalized factorial cumulants up to fourth
order are used to measure genuine pa rticle correlations as a function of the
size of phase space domains in rapidity, azimuthal angle and transverse
momentum. tein correlations. Some of the recently proposed algorithms to
simulate Bose-Einstein effects, implemented in the Monte Carlo model \PYTHIA,
reproduce reasonably well the me asured second- and higher-order correlations
between particles with the same charge as well as those in all-charge particle
multiplets.


title:
Transverse Momentum Distribution in the B Mesons in the Heavy-quark
  Limit: the Wandzura-Wilczek Part

abstract:
  In the heavy-quark limit, the valence Fock-state components in the B mesons
are described by a set of two light-cone wavefunctions. We show that these two
wavefunctions obey simple coupled differential equations, which are based on
the equations of motion in the Heavy Quark Effective Theory (HQET), and the
analytic solutions for them are obtained. The results generalize the recently
obtained longitudinal-momentum distribution in the Wandzura-Wilczek
approximation by including the transverse momenta. We find that the transverse
momentum distribution depends on the longitudinal momentum of the constituents,
and that the wavefunctions damp very slowly for large transverse separation
between quark and antiquark.


title: Parton and dipole approaches in QCD

abstract:
  Here, we discuss QCD predictions on multiplicities in parton and dipole
approaches. The most general treatment is based on the notion of the generating
functions. The generating function G is defined as $G(u,y)=\sum_nu^nP_n(y)$,
where $P_n$ is the probability of the n-particle production at energy denoted
by y, u is an auxiliary variable. The mean multiplicity and higher moments of
the multiplicity distribution $P_n$ are given by the u-derivatives of G at u=1.


title: The COMPASS Experiment and the measurement of the gluon polarisation

abstract:
  COMPASS, a new fixed target experiment at CERN, aimed at the study of nucleon
spin structure and hadron spectroscopy, has started to collect physics data in
Autumn 2001. This paper describes the COMPASS apparatus and the measurement of
the gluon polarisation $\Delta G /G$. The apparatus consists in a solid state
polarised target and a two stage spectro-meter with high resolution tracking,
particle identification and calorimetry, capable of standing high event rates.
COMPASS measures the longitudinal spin asymmetry of open charm production in
polarised deep inelastic muon nucleon scattering: this asymmetry is directly
related to $\Delta G$ since at COMPASS energies open charm is essentially
produced by photon gluon fusion only. A second channel, used to access $\Delta
G$ with higher statistics, is the production of correlated high $p_T$ hadron
pairs.


title:
On the O(alpha_t^2) two-loop corrections to the neutral Higgs boson
  masses in the MSSM

abstract:
  We compute the O(alpha_t^2) two-loop corrections to the neutral CP-even Higgs
boson mass matrix in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, for arbitrary
values of mA and of the parameters in the stop sector, in the effective
potential approach. In a large region of parameter space these corrections are
sizeable, increasing the prediction for mh by several GeV. We present explicit
analytical formulae for a simplified case. We discuss the inclusion of
momentum-dependent corrections and some possible ways of assigning the input
parameters.


title: Evidence for chemical equilibration at RHIC

abstract:
  This contribution focuses on the results of statistical model calculations at
RHIC energies, including recently available experimental data. Previous
calculations of particle yield ratios showed good agreement with measurements
at SPS and lower energies, suggesting that the composite system possesses a
high degree of chemical equilibrium at freeze-out. The effect of feeddown
contamination on the model parameters is discussed, and the sensitivity of
individual ratios to the model parameters ($T$, $\mu_B$) is illustrated.


title: General Flavour Blind MSSM and CP Violation

abstract:
  We study FCNC and CP violating processes in the MSSM without a new flavour
structure (flavour blind MSSM). The low energy parameters are determined by the
running of the soft breaking terms from the GUT scale with SUSY phases
consistent with the EDM constraints. We find that the CP asymmetry in b -> s
gamma can reach large values potentially measurable at B factories, especially
in the low BR(b -> s gamma) region. We analyze the SUSY contributions to the
anomalous magnetic moment of the muon pointing out its impact on the b -> s
gamma CP asymmetry and on the SUSY spectrum.


title: Azimuthal anisotropy of jet quenching at LHC

abstract:
  We analyze the azimuthal anisotropy of jet spectra due to energy loss of hard
partons in quark-gluon plasma, created initially in nuclear overlap zone in
collisions with non-zero impact parameter. The calculations are performed for
semi-central Pb-Pb collisions at LHC energy.


title: Gauge Theories from Dp-branes

abstract:
  In this talk we discuss the need to introduce a string theory in order to
obtain a consistent quantum theory of gravity unified with gauge interactions.
We then discuss some basic properties of string theory and the origin and the
properties of the D(irichlet)-branes. Finally we use them for discussing the
Maldacena conjecture and its extension to non-conformal and less supersymmetric
theories.


title: Four Body Decay of the Stop Squark at the Upgraded Tevatron

abstract:
  We investigate the prospect of stop squark search at Tevatron RUN-II in
mSUGRA motivated as well as unconstrained supersymmetric models, when the
lighter stop squark turns out to be the next lightest supersymmetric particle
(NLSP). In this case the decay into a 4-body final state consisting of a b
quark, the lightest neutralino and two light fermions may compete with the much
publicized loop induced two body decay into a charm quark and the lightest
neutralino. We systematically study the parameter space in mSUGRA where the
lighter stop squark turns out to be the NLSP and calculate the branching ratios
of the competing channels in both models. Our results show that the four body
decay may indeed be the main discovery channel particularly in the low tan
$\beta$ scenarios. We discuss the detectability of stop squark pairs in the
4-body decay channel leading to one lepton with 2 or more jets accompanied by a
large amount of missing energy. We also studied the corresponding background
processes and the kinematic cuts required to suppress them using parton level
Monte Carlo simulations. We have commented upon with illustrative examples, the
required revision of the existing mass limits of the stop NLSP assumed to decay
solely into the loop induced 2-body channel in the presence of the competing
4-body decay.


title:
Multiple Point Model and Phase Transition Couplings in the Two-Loop
  Approximation of Dual Scalar Electrodynamics

abstract:
  The phase transition "Coulomb-confinement" in the U(1) regularized gauge
theory is considered in the framework of dual Abelian Higgs model of scalar
monopoles (shortly: Higgs monopole model). The effective potential analogous to
the Coleman-Weinberg's one, improved by the renormalization group equation, is
constructed, using beta-functions in the two-loop approximation. The value of
QED critical fine structure constant was calculated: $\alpha_{crit}\approx
0.208$, in correspondence with lattice result: $\alpha_{crit}^{lat}\approx
0.20\pm 0.015$.


title:
Radiative return at NLO and the measurement of the hadronic
  cross-section in electron-positron annihilation

abstract:
  Electron-positron annihilation into hadrons plus an energetic photon from
initial state radiation allows the hadronic cross-section to be measured over a
wide range of energies. The full next-to-leading order QED corrections for the
cross-section for e^+ e^- annihilation into a real tagged photon and a virtual
photon converting into hadrons are calculated where the tagged photon is
radiated off the initial electron or positron. This includes virtual and soft
photon corrections to the process e^+ e^- \to \gamma +\gamma^* and the emission
of two real hard photons: e^+ e^- \to \gamma + \gamma + \gamma^*. A Monte Carlo
generator has been constructed, which incorporates these corrections and
simulates the production of two charged pions or muons plus one or two photons.
Predictions are presented for centre-of-mass energies between 1 and 10 GeV,
corresponding to the energies of DAPHNE, CLEO-C and B-meson factories.


title: Strangeness, Equilibration, Hadronization

abstract:
  In these remarks I explain the motivation which leads us to consider chemical
nonequilibrium processes in flavor equilibration and in statistical
hadroniziation of quark--gluon plasma (QGP). Statistical hadronization allowing
for chemical non-equilibrium is introduced. The reesults of fits to
  RHIC-130 results, including multistrange hadrons, are shown to agree only
with the model of an exploding QGP fireball.


title:
Black Hole Production in Large Extra Dimensions at the Tevatron:
  Possibility for a First Glimpse on TeV Scale Gravity

abstract:
  The production of black holes in large extra dimensions is studied for
Tevatron energies. We find that black holes may have already been created in
small abundance in $\bar p p$ collisions at $\sqrt s=1.8$ TeV. For the next
Tevatron run ($\sqrt s=2.0$ TeV) large production rates for black holes are
predicted.


title: Charged fermion masses with Yukawa coupling strength universality

abstract:
  We consider the problem of the ordinary charged fermion mass patterns in the
framework of a version of the 3-3-1 electroweak gauge model, which includes
charged heavy leptons. The masses of the top and the bottom quarks are given at
the tree level. All the other charged fermions get their masses at the one loop
level. The Yukawa coupling strength can be universal. The model is compatible
with a mechanism for neutrino mass generation proposed by other authors.


title: Time evolution in linear response: Boltzmann equations and beyond

abstract:
  In this work a perturbative linear response analysis is performed for the
time evolution of the quasi-conserved charge of a scalar field. One can find
two regimes, one follows exponential damping, where the damping rate is shown
to come from quantum Boltzmann equations. The other regime (coming from
multiparticle cuts and products of them) decays as power law. The most
important, non-oscillating contribution in our model comes from a 4-particle
intermediate state and decays as 1/t^3. These results may have relevance for
instance in the context of lepton number violation in the Early Universe.


title: Probing CPT violation with atmospheric neutrinos

abstract:
  We investigate the recently suggested scheme of independent mass matrices for
neutrinos and antineutrinos. Such a CPT violating scheme is able to account for
all neutrino data with the three known flavors. For atmospheric neutrinos this
means that it is possible to have different mass squared differences driving
the oscillation for neutrinos and antineutrinos. We analyze the atmospheric and
K2K data within the simplest scheme of two neutrino oscillation, neglecting
electron neutrino oscillation. We find that the preferred region is close to
the CPT conserving mass spectra. However the spectra with the antineutrino mass
squared difference about or larger than 0.1 eV^2 and the neutrino mass squared
difference about 2 \times 10^{-3} eV^2 is not significantly disfavored. In this
parameter region the atmospheric data are independent of the antineutrino mass
squared difference. Therefore no useful constraint can be put on CPT violation
effects contributing to different masses for the neutrinos and antineutrinos.


title: Yukawa Deflected Gauge Mediation

abstract:
  We consider models which are natural extensions of those where supersymmetry
is broken at low energy scales and transmitted to visible matter by gauge
interactions. We investigate the situation where the quark and lepton
superfields of the MSSM are localized to a brane in a higher dimensional space
while the messenger fields and the sector which breaks supersymmetry
dynamically are localized to another brane in the same space. The MSSM gauge
and Higgs fields are assumed to propagate in the bulk. If some of the messenger
fields and the Higgs fields have the same quantum numbers, this allows the
possibility of mixing between these fields so that the physical Higgs and
messenger fields are admixtures of the brane and bulk fields. This manifests
itself in direct couplings of the quark and lepton fields to the physical
messengers that are proportional to the MSSM Yukawa couplings and hence
preserve the flavor structure of the CKM matrix. The result is new
contributions to the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters that are related to
the Yukawa couplings and which therefore naturally satisfy the constraints from
FCNC's. For messenger scales greater then 1000 TeV these new contributions are
parametrically of the same order of magnitude as gauge mediation. This scenario
naturally avoids the cosmological problems associated with stable messengers
and admits a simple and natural solution to the $\mu$ problem based on the
NMSSM.


title:
Differential Distributions for NLO Analyses of Charged Current
  Neutrino-Production of Charm

abstract:
  Experimental analyses of charged current deep inelastic charm production --
as observed through dimuon events in neutrino-iron scattering -- measure the
strangeness component of the nucleon sea. A complete analysis requires a Monte
Carlo simulation to account for experimental detector acceptance effects;
therefore, a fully differential theoretical calculation is necessary to provide
complete kinematic information. We investigate the theoretical issues involved
in calculating these differential distributions at Next-Leading-Order (NLO).
Numerical results are presented for typical fixed target kinematics. We present
a corresponding FORTRAN code suitable for experimental NLO analysis.


title: Diffractive D_s production in charged current DIS

abstract:
  We present a perturbative QCD calculation of diffractive $D_s$ production in
charged current deep inelastic scattering. In the two-gluon exchange model, we
analyze the diffractive process $\nu N \to \mu^- N \Ds$, which may provide
useful information for the gluon structure of nucleons and the diffraction
mechanism in QCD. The cross section of diffractive $D_s$ production with
$\xBj=0.005$-0.05 and $E_\nu=50$ Gev is found to be $2.7\times10^{-5}$ pb. In
spite of this small cross section, the high luminosity available at the
$\nu$-Factory in the future would lead to a sizable number of diffraction
events.


title:
Electron-positron pair production in the external electromagnetic field
  of colliding relativistic heavy ions

abstract:
  The results concerning the $e^+e^-$ production in peripheral highly
relativistic heavy-ion collisions presented in a recent paper by Baltz {\em{et
al.}} are rederived in a very straightforward manner. It is shown that the
solution of the Dirac equation directly leads to the multiplicity, i.e. to the
total number of electron-positron pairs produced by the electromagnetic field
of the ions, whereas the calculation of the single pair production probability
is much more involved. A critical observation concerns the unsolved problem of
seemingly absent Coulomb corrections (Bethe-Maximon corrections) in pair
production cross sections. It is shown that neither the inclusion of the
vacuum-vacuum amplitude nor the correct interpretation of the solution of the
Dirac equation concerning the pair multiplicity is able the explain (from a
fundamental point of view) the absence of Coulomb corrections. Therefore the
contradiction has to be accounted to the treatment of the high energy limit.


title: Fluctuation modes in color-superconductors

abstract:
  We investigate fluctuation effects of a gap parameter in
color-superconductors. The fluctuation modes in the super phase are described
by two scalar fields of diquarks. One of them is a Nambu-Goldstone boson and
the other is a diquark boson whose mass is about twice of the gap energy (an
extended quasi-supersymmetry). In the normal phase the fluctuation becomes a
precursory (soft) mode whose amplitude increases near the critical temperature.


title: Strange Hadron Resonances and QGP Freeze-out

abstract:
  We describe how the abundance and distribution of hyperon resonances can be
used to probe freeze-out conditions. We demonstrate that resonance yields allow
us to measure the time scales of chemical and thermal freeze-outs. This should
permit a direct differentiation between the explosive sudden, and staged
adiabatic freeze-out scenarios.


title: Langevin dynamics of $J/\psi$ in a parton plasma

abstract:
  We consider the Brownian motion of a $c \bar c$ pair produced in the very
early satge of a quark-gluon plasma. The one-dimensional Langevin equation is
solved formally to get purely mechanical properties at small and large times.
Stochastically-averaged variances are examined to extract the time scales
associated with swelling and ionization of the bound state. Simple numerical
estimates of the time scales are compared with other mechanisms of $J/\psi$
suppression.


title:
Omega, J/psi and psi' Production in Nuclear Collisions and Quark Gluon
  Plsama Hadronization

abstract:
  The transverse mass spectra of Omega, J/psi and psi' in Pb+Pb collisions at
158 AGeV are studied within a hydrodynamical model of the quark gluon plasma
expansion and hadronization. The model reproduces the existing data with the
common hadronization parameters: temperature T=T_H = 170 MeV and average
collective transverse velocity v_T = 0.2.


title:
Loops and loop clouds - a numerical approach to the worldline formalism
  in QED -

abstract:
  A numerical technique for calculating effective actions of electromagnetic
backgrounds is proposed, which is based on the string-inspired worldline
formalism. As examples, we consider scalar electrodynamics in three and four
dimensions to one-loop order. Beyond the constant-magnetic-field case, we
analyze a step-function-like magnetic field exhibiting a nonlocal and
nonperturbative phenomenon: ``magnetic-field diffusion''. Finally,
generalizations to fermionic loops and systems at finite temperature are
discussed.


title: J/psi Inclusive Production in ep Deep-Inelastic Scattering at DESY HERA

abstract:
  We calculate the cross section of J/psi plus jet associated production in ep
deep-inelastic scattering within the factorization formalism of nonrelativistic
quantum chromodynamics. Our analytic results disagree with previous analyses,
both for the colour-singlet and colour-octet channels. Our theoretical
predictions agree reasonably well with recent data taken by the H1
Collaboration at DESY HERA, significantly better than those obtained within the
colour-singlet model.


title: Neutrino Mass Matrices in Models with Horizontal Symmetries

abstract:
  We have studied the most general neutrino mass matrices in models with SU(2)
and SU(3) horizontal symmetries. Without going into the details of the models
it is possible to write down the effective operators, which predict the
structure of the Majorana neutrino mass matrices. Unlike other extensions of
the standard model, the structure is now independent of the effective Yukawa
couplings and depends entirely on the Higgs which gives mass to the other
fermions. In the case of SU(3) symmetries the lowest dimensional operators are
forbidden requiring a low mass scale for lepton number violation.


title: The Entropy of the Quark-Gluon Plasma

abstract:
  The entropy of the quark-gluon plasma can be calculated from QCD using
(approximately) self-consistent approximations. Lattice results for pure gauge
theories are accurately reproduced down to temperatures of the order of
2.5$T_c$. Comparisons with other approaches to the thermodynamics of the
quark-gluon plasma are briefly discussed.


title: Mass Terms in Two-Higgs Doublet Models

abstract:
  We take a closer look at the mass terms of all renormalizable and CP
conserving two-Higgs doublet models (THDM). We show how some of the dimension
two parameters in the potential can be set equal to zero leading to relations
among the tree-level parameters of the potential. The different versions of the
THDM obtained give rise to different amplitudes for physical processes. We will
illustrate this with two examples. The first one is the one-loop weak
correction to the top decay width, t -> b W. The second one is the decay h ->
gamma gamma in the fermiophobic limit.


title: Lepton Masses from a TeV Scale in a 3-3-1 Model

abstract:
  In this work, using the fact that in 3-3-1 models the same leptonic bilinear
contributes to the masses of both charged leptons and neutrinos, we develop an
effective operator mechanism to generate mass for all leptons. The effective
operators have dimension five for the case of charged leptons and dimension
seven for neutrinos. By adding extra scalar multiplets and imposing the
discrete symmetry $Z_9\otimes Z_2$ we are able to generate realistic textures
for the leptonic mixing matrix. This mechanism requires new physics at the TeV
scale.


title: \Lambda_b Lifetime from the HQET Sum Rule

abstract:
  The HQET sum rule analysis for the \Lambda_b matrix element of the four-quark
operator relevant to its lifetime is reported. Our main conclusion is that the
lifetime ratio \tau(\Lambda_b)/\tau(B^0) can be as low as 0.91.


title: Introduction to effective Lagrangians for QCD

abstract:
  A brief introduction to the effective Lagrangian treatment of QCD (in the
sense of using fields representing physical particles rather than quarks and
gluons) will be given. The historical evolution of the subject will be
discussed. Some background material related to a recent model for Gamma Ray
Bursters will be given. Finally, some recent work on low energy strong
interactions will be mentioned.


title: Mass-Induced Crystalline Color Superconductivity

abstract:
  We demonstrate that crystalline color superconductivity may arise as a result
of pairing between massless quarks and quarks with nonzero mass m_s. Previous
analyses of this phase of cold dense quark matter have all utilized a chemical
potential difference \delta\mu to favor crystalline color superconductivity
over ordinary BCS pairing. In any context in which crystalline color
superconductivity occurs in nature, however, it will be m_s-induced. The effect
of m_s is qualitatively different from that of \delta\mu in one crucial
respect: m_s depresses the value of the BCS gap \Delta_0 whereas \delta\mu
leaves \Delta_0 unchanged. This effect in the BCS phase must be taken into
account before m_s-induced and \delta\mu-induced crystalline color
superconductivity can sensibly be compared.


title: TeV Astrophysics Constraints on Planck Scale Lorentz Violation

abstract:
  We analyze observational constraints from TeV astrophysics on Lorentz
violating nonlinear dispersion for photons and electrons without assuming any a
priori equality between the photon and electron parameters. The constraints
arise from thresholds for vacuum Cerenkov radiation, photon decay and
photo-production of electron-positron pairs. We show that the parameter plane
for cubic momentum terms in the dispersion relations is constrained to an order
unity region in Planck units. We find that the threshold configuration can
occur with an asymmetric distribution of momentum for pair creation, and with a
hard photon for vacuum Cerenkov radiation.


title: Heavy Ions Interpretation of Highest Energy Cosmic Rays

abstract:
  A brief review of the energy spectrum of primary cosmic rays above $10^{10}$
eV and the measurement techniques used to investigate the ultra high energy
ones is given. This is followed by a discussion of the atmospheric shower
profile of the highest energy event observed using the Fly's Eye detector.
Finally, cosmic ray simulation tools are discussed and used to investigate the
heavy ion interpretation of the highest energy primary. The best way to
contribute further to the understanding of this issue is by the collection of
new and better data.


title: A Way to Reopen the Window for Electroweak Baryogenesis

abstract:
  We reanalyse the sphaleron bound of electroweak baryogenesis when allowing
deviations to the Friedmann equation. These modifications are well motivated in
the context of brane cosmology where they appear without being in conflict with
major experimental constraints on four-dimensional gravity. While suppressed at
the time of nucleosynthesis, these corrections can dominate at the time of the
electroweak phase transition and in certain cases provide the amount of
expansion needed to freeze out the baryon asymmetry without requiring a
strongly first order phase transition. The sphaleron bound is substantially
weakened and can even disappear so that the constraints on the higgs and stop
masses do not apply anymore. Such modification of cosmology at early times
therefore reopens the parameter space allowing electroweak baryogenesis which
had been reduced substantially given the new bound on the higgs mass imposed by
LEP. In contrast with previous attempts to turn around the sphaleron bound
using alternative cosmologies, we are still considering that the electroweak
phase transition takes place in a radiation dominated universe. The universe is
expanding fast because of the modification of the Friedmann equation itself
without the need for a scalar field and therefore evading the problem of the
decay of this scalar field after the completion of the phase transition and the
risk that its release of entropy dilutes the baryon asymmetry produced at the
transition.


title:
Gauge/Anomaly Syzygy and Generalized Brane World Models of Supersymmetry
  Breaking

abstract:
  In theories in which SUSY is broken on a brane separated from the MSSM matter
fields, supersymmetry breaking is naturally mediated in a variety of ways.
Absent other light fields in the theory, gravity will mediate supersymmetry
breaking through the conformal anomaly. If gauge fields propagate in the extra
dimension they, too, can mediate supersymmetry breaking effects. The presence
of gauge fields in the bulk motivates us to consider the effects of new
messenger fields with holomorphic and non-holomorphic couplings to the
supersymmetry breaking sector. These can lead to contributions to the soft
masses of MSSM fields which dramatically alter the features of brane world
scenarios of supersymmetry breaking. In particular, they can solve the negative
slepton mass squared problem of anomaly mediation and change the predictions of
gaugino mediation.


title:
Coherent gamma-gamma and gamma-A interactions in very peripheral
  collisions at relativistic ion colliders

abstract:
  Due to coherence, there are strong electromagnetic fields of short duration
in very peripheral collisions. They give rise to photon-photon and
photon-nucleus collisions with a high flux up to an invariant mass region
hitherto unexplored experimentally. After a general survey of the field
equivalent photon numbers and photon-photon luminosities, especially for
relativistic heavy ion collisions, are discussed. Special care needs to be
taken to include the effects of the strong interaction and nuclear size in this
case. Photon-photon and photon-hadron physics at various invariant mass scales
are then discussed. The maximum equivalent photon energy in the lab-system
(collider frame) are typically of the order of 3 GeV for RHIC and 100 GeV for
LHC. Diffractive processes are an important background process. Lepton-pair,
especially electron-positron pair production is copious. Due to the strong
fields there will be new phenomena, like multiple e+e- pair production. The
experimental techniques to select gamma-gamma-processes are finally discussed
together with important background processes.


title:
Effects of the Intergalactic Plasma on Supernova Dimming via
  Photon-Axion Oscillations

abstract:
  We have recently proposed a mechanism of photon-axion oscillations as a way
of rendering supernovae dimmer without cosmic acceleration. Subsequently, it
has been argued that the intergalactic plasma may interfere adversely with this
mechanism by rendering the oscillations energy dependent. Here we show that
this energy dependence is extremely sensitive to the precise value of the free
electron density in the Universe. Decreasing the electron density by only a
factor of 4 is already sufficient to bring the energy dependence within the
experimental bounds. Models of the intergalactic medium show that for redshifts
z<1 about 97% of the total volume of space is filled with regions of density
significantly lower than the average density. From these models we estimate
that the average electron density in most of space is lower by at least a
factor of 15 compared to the estimate based on one half of all baryons being
uniformly distributed and ionized. Therefore the energy dependence of the
photon-axion oscillations is consistent with experiment, and the oscillation
model remains a viable alternative to the accelerating Universe for explaining
the supernova observations. Furthermore, the electron density does give rise to
a sufficiently large plasma frequency which cuts off the photon-axion mixing
above microwave frequencies, shielding the cosmic microwave photons from axion
conversions and significantly relaxing the lower bounds on the axion mass
implied by the oscillation model.


title: Flow equations for chiral problem in QCD

abstract:
  We analyze the chiral symmetry breaking of QCD in the Coulomb gauge. Using
flow equations, we derive the renormalized gap equation and the Bethe-Salpeter
equation and show that they are finite in both UV and IR regions. No additional
UV renormalization is required in the chiral limit. We take into account the
hyperfine interaction as well as chiral symmetry breaking and obtain the
$\pi-\rho$ mass splitting caused by the instantaneous and dynamical
interactions.


title: Supernova Neutrinos and the LSND Evidence for Neutrino Oscillations

abstract:
  The observation of the $\bar{\nu}_e$ energy spectrum from a supernova burst
can provide constraints on neutrino oscillations. We derive formulas for
adiabatic oscillations of supernova antineutrinos for a variety of 3- and
4-neutrino mixing schemes and mass hierarchies which are consistent with the
LSND evidence for $\bar{\nu}_{\mu}\to \bar{\nu}_e$ oscillations.
  Finally, we explore the constraints on these models and LSND given by the
supernova SN1987A $\bar{\nu}_e$'s observed by the Kamiokande-2 and IMB-3
detectors.


title:
Polarization Phenomena in Fragmentation of Deuterons to Pions and
  Non-Nucleon Degrees of Freedom in the Deuteron

abstract:
  The fragmentation of deuterons into pions emitted forward in the kinematic
region forbidden for free nucleon-nucleon collisions is analyzed. It is shown
that the inclusion of the non-nucleon degrees of freedom in a deuteron allows
to describe the experimental data about inclusive pion spectrum rather
satisfactory and improves the description of data concerning the deuteron
analyzing power T_{20}. The experimental data show the positive sign and very
small values, less than 0.2, of T_{20} what can't be reproduced by the
calculations ignoring these degrees of freedom.


title:
Constraints on $|U_{e3}|^2$ from a Three-Neutrino Oscillation Analysis
  of the CHOOZ Data

abstract:
  Results of a new analysis of the CHOOZ data, performed in the framework of
three-neutrino mixing, are presented. Both the cases of normal and inverted
neutrino mass hierarchy are considered. The parameters characterizing the solar
neutrino oscillations, $\Delta m^2_{\odot}$ and $\theta_{\odot}$, are assumed
to lie in the region of the large mixing angle (LMA) MSW solution of the solar
neutrino problem. For $\Delta m^2_{\odot}$ not exceeding $10^{-4} eV^2$ the new
CHOOZ exclusion curve in the $\Delta m^2_{31} - |U_{e3}|^2$ plane practically
coincides with the exclusion curve obtained in the two-neutrino mixing case.
For $\Delta m^2_{\odot}$ bigger than or equal to $2x10^{-4} eV^2$, the
constraints of the CHOOZ data on $|U_{e3}|^2$ are more stringent than those
obtained in the two- neutrino oscillation analysis.


title: QCD Studies at HERA

abstract:
  Several topics from the wide field of QCD studies in Deep-inelastic $ep$
Scattering at HERA are addressed. They include QCD analyses of the inclusive
cross section with the determination of $\alpha_s$ and the proton gluon density
from the $F_2$ scaling violations, and the determination of the longitudinal
structure function $F_L$. QCD analyses of inclusive jet and dijet data are also
presented. Finally jet substructure and three-jet production are discussed.


title:
Using Imprecise Tags of CP Eigenstates in B(s) and the Determination of
  the CKM Phase gamma

abstract:
  We consider the possibility of studying the CP properties of various B(s)
decays at an electro-positron machine tuned to the Upsilon(5s). Since decay
modes of the B(s) with definite CP are relatively rare, we suggest that the use
of more common modes which are not pure CP eigenstates may allow the
determination of the CKM phase gamma. By studying the degree of correlation
between different decay modes at a Upsilon(5s) it is possible to determine the
degree of affinity of each decay mode to a CP eigenstate. Once this is known,
the correlation between a decay mode with a greater affinity to a particular CP
eigenstate with a mode such as D(s) + K- gives a determination of the phase
gamma.


title: B meson decays to baryons in the diquark model

abstract:
  We study B meson decays to two charmless baryons in the diquark model,
including strong and electroweak penguins as well as the tree operators. It is
shown that penguin operators can enhance $\bar{B} \to \Bb_s \bar{\Bb}$
considerably, but affect $\bar{B} \to \Bb_1 \bar{\Bb}_2$ only slightly, where
$\Bb_{(1,2)}$ and $\Bb_s$ are non-strange and strange baryons, respectively.
The $\gamma$ dependence of the decay rates due to tree-penguin interference is
illustrated. In principle, some of the $\Bb_s \bar{\Bb}$ modes could dominate
over $\Bb_1 \bar{\Bb}_2$ for $\gamma > 90^\circ$, but in general the effect is
milder than their mesonic counterparts. This is because the $O_6$ operator can
only produce vector but not scalar diquarks, while the opposite is true for
$O_1$ and $O_4$. Predictions from diquark model are compared to those from the
sum rule calculation. The decays $\bar{B} \to \Bb_s \bar{\Bb}_s$ and inclusive
baryonic decays are also discussed.


title:
Possibility of extracting the weak phase $\gamma$ from $\Lambda_b \to
  \Lambda D^0$ decays

abstract:
  We explore the possibility of extracting the weak phase $\gamma$ from pure
tree decays $\Lambda_b \to \Lambda (D^0, \bar{D^0}, D^0_{CP})$ in a model
independent way. The CP violating weak phase $\gamma$ can be determined
cleanly, without any hadronic uncertainties, as these decay modes are free from
the penguin pollutions. Furthermore, neither tagging nor time dependent studies
are required to extract the angle $\gamma $ with these modes.


title: A model prediction for polarized antiquark flavor asymmetry

abstract:
  Polarized flavor asymmetry Delta u-bar/Delta d-bar is investigated in a
meson-cloud model. A polarized nucleon splits into a rho meson and a baryon,
then the polarized rho meson interacts with the virtual photon. Because of the
difference between the longitudinally polarized distributions Delta u-bar and
Delta d-bar in rho, the polarized flavor asymmetry is produced in the nucleon.
In addition, we show that the g_2 part of rho contributes to the asymmetry
especially at medium x with small Q^2.


title: Comparison of high-energy galactic and atmospheric tau neutrino flux

abstract:
  We compare the tau neutrino flux arising from the galaxy and the earth
atmosphere for 10^3 < E/GeV < 10^11. The intrinsic and oscillated tau neutrino
fluxes from both sources are calculated. The intrinsic galactic \nu_{\tau} flux
(E > 10^3 GeV) is calculated by considering the interactions of high-energy
cosmic-rays with the matter present in our galaxy, whereas the oscillated
galactic \nu_{\tau} flux is coming from the oscillation of the galactic
\nu_{\mu} flux. For the intrinsic atmospheric \nu_{\tau} flux, we extend the
validity of a previous calculation from E < 10^6 GeV up to E < 10^11 GeV. The
oscillated atmospheric \nu_{\tau} flux is, on the other hand, rather
suppressed. We find that, for 10^3 < E/GeV < 5\cdot 10^7, the oscillated
\nu_{\tau} flux along the galactic plane dominates over the maximal intrinsic
atmospheric \nu_{\tau} flux, i.e., the flux along the horizontal direction. We
also briefly mention the presently envisaged prospects for observing these
high-energy tau neutrinos.


title: Pi and PiPi Decays of Excited D Mesons

abstract:
  The $\pi$ and $\pi\pi$ decay widths of the excited charm mesons are
calculated using a Hamiltonian model within the framework of the covariant
Blankenbecler-Sugar equation. The pion-light constituent quark coupling is
described by the chiral pseudovector Lagrangian.


title: Recent searches for solar axions and large extra dimensions

abstract:
  We analyze the data from two recent experiments designed to search for solar
axions within the context of multidimensional theories of the Kaluza-Klein
type. In these experiments, axions were supposed to be emitted from the solar
core, in M1 transitions between the first excited state and the ground state of
57Fe and 7Li. Because of the high multiplicity of axionic Kaluza-Klein states
which couple with the strength of ordinary QCD axions, we obtain much more
stringent experimental limits on the four-dimensional Peccei-Quinn breaking
scale f_{PQ}, compared with the solar QCD axion limit. Specifically, for the
57Fe experiment, f_{PQ}>1x10^6 GeV in theories with two extra dimensions and a
higher-dimensional gravitational scale M_H of order 100 TeV, and f_{PQ}>1x10^6
GeV in theories with three extra dimensions and M_H of order 1 TeV (to be
compared with the QCD axion limit, f_{PQ}>8x10^3 GeV). For the 7Li experiment,
f_{PQ}>1.4x10^5 GeV and 3.4x10^5 GeV, respectively (to be compared with the QCD
axion limit, f_{PQ}>1.9x10^2 GeV). It is an interesting feature of our results
that, in most cases, the obtained limit on f_{PQ} cannot be coupled with the
mass of the axion, which is essentially set by the (common) radius of the extra
dimensions.


title: Azimuthal and spin asymmetries in DIS

abstract:
  In these lectures I want to discuss how the structure functions in deep
inelastic scattering relate to quark and gluon correlation functions. In
particular we will consider the issue of intrinsic transverse momenta of
quarks, which becomes important in processes like 1-particle inclusive
leptoproduction. Some examples of cross sections and asymmetries, in particular
in polarized scattering processes are discussed. We also discuss the operator
structure for azimuthal asymmetries and their evolution.


title: Tests of CPT Invariance at Neutrino Factories

abstract:
  We investigate possible tests of CPT invariance on the level of event rates
at neutrino factories. We do not assume any specific model but phenomenological
differences in the neutrino-antineutrino masses and mixing angles in a Lorentz
invariance preserving context, such as it could be induced by physics beyond
the Standard Model. We especially focus on the muon neutrino and antineutrino
disappearance channels in order to obtain constraints on the
neutrino-antineutrino mass and mixing angle differences; we found, for example,
that the sensitivity $|m_3 - \bar{m}_3| \lesssim 1.9 \cdot 10^{-4} \mathrm{eV}$
could be achieved.


title: A weak, attractive, long-range force in Higgs condensates

abstract:
  Due to the peculiar nature of the underlying medium, density fluctuations in
a `Higgs condensate' are predicted to propagate for infinitely long wavelengths
with a group velocity $c_s\to \infty $. On the other hand, for any large but
finite $c_s$ there is a weak, attractive $1/r$ potential of strength
${{1}\over{c^2_s}}$ and the energy spectrum deviates from the purely massive
form $\sqrt{p}^2 + M^2_h}$ at momenta smaller than $\delta\sim
{{M_h}\over{c_s}}$. Physically, the length scale $\delta^{-1}$ corresponds to
the mean free-path for the elementary constituents in the condensate and would
naturally be placed in the millimeter range.


title: Bounds on Broken R-Parity from Leptonic Meson Decays

abstract:
  Investigating leptonic decays of pi^-, K^-, B^-, pi^0, K_L^0, B_s^0 we
present new bounds on some products of two R-parity violating coupling
constants. For mesons of a similar structure but so far poor experimental data
we give the corresponding formulae, to be used in the future.


title: On the Large Nc Expansion in Quantum Chromodynamics

abstract:
  I discuss methods based on the large Nc expansion to study nonperturbative
aspects of quantum chromodynamics, the theory of the strong force. I apply
these methods to the analysis of weak decay processes and the nonperturbative
computation of the weak matrix elements needed for a complete evaluation of
these decays in the Standard Model of elementary particle physics.


title:
5D Super Yang-Mills Theory in 4D Superspace, Superfield Brane Operators,
  and Applications to Orbifold GUTs

abstract:
  A manifestly gauge invariant formulation of 5-dimensional supersymmetric
Yang-Mills theories in terms of 4d superfields is derived. It relies on a
supersymmetry and gauge-covariant derivative operator in the $x^5$ direction.
This formulation allows for a systematic study of higher-derivative operators
by combining invariant 4d superfield expressions under the additional
restriction of 5d Lorentz symmetry. In cases where the 5d theory is
compactified on a gauge-symmetry-breaking orbifold, the formalism can be used
for a simple discussion of possible brane operators invariant under the
restricted symmetry of the fixed points. This is particularly relevant to
recently constructed grand unified theories in higher dimensions (orbifold
GUTs). Several applications, including proton decay operators and
brane-localized mass terms, are discussed.


title:
A NLO calculation of the large p_T photon + photon -> photon + jet cross
  section

abstract:
  We study the production of an isolated large p_T photon as well as the
production of an isolated prompt photon plus a jet in e^+e^- collisions. Our
results are obtained by a NLO Monte Carlo program of partonic event generator
type. We discuss the possibilities to constrain the parton densities in the
real photon and compare to preliminary OPAL data.


title: New U(1) Gauge Symmetry of Quarks and Leptons

abstract:
  Instead of anchoring the seesaw mechanism with the conventional heavy
right-handed neutrino singlet, a small Majorana neutrino mass may be obtained
just as well with the addition of a heavy triplet of leptons per family to the
minimal standard model of particle interactions. The resulting model is shown
to have the remarkable property of accommodating a new U(1) symmetry which is
anomaly-free and may thus be gauged. There are many possible phenomenological
consequences of this proposal which may be already relevant in explaining one
or two recent potential experimental discrepancies.


title:
Implications of Gauge Unification for Time Variation of the Fine
  Structure Constant

abstract:
  Unification of the gauge couplings would imply that time variations of the
fine structure constant are accompanied by calculable and very significant time
variations in the QCD scale parameter $\Lambda_{QCD}$. Since $\Lambda_{QCD}$ is
the dominant factor in setting the hadron masses, estimates made by simple
variations of the fine structure constant may not provide meaningful limits.
There may also be related variations in Yukawa couplings and the electroweak
scale. Implications for the 21 cm hyperfine transition, big bang
nucleosynthesis, and the triple alpha process are discussed. We find that the
first of these already provides strong constraints on the underlying theory. It
is emphasized more generally that time (and space) variations of fundamental
couplings and their correlations may be a significant probe of
ultra-high-energy physics.


title: Multiparticle Production in Nucleus-Nucleus Interactions at High Energh

abstract:
  We present and discuss results on multiplicity and angular distributions of
shower particles produced in silicon-nucleus collisions at 4.5 A GeV/c. These
results are compared with those obtained for different values of impact
parameter. Shower width distribution has also been investigated .


title: Rare Charm Decays in the Standard Model and Beyond

abstract:
  We perform a comprehensive study of a number of rare charm decays,
incorporating the first evaluation of the QCD corrections to the short distance
contributions, as well as examining the long range effects. For processes
mediated by the $c\to u\ell^+\ell^-$ transitions, we show that sensitivity to
short distance physics exists in kinematic regions away from the vector meson
resonances that dominate the total rate. In particular, we find that
$D\to\pi\ell^+\ell^-$ and $D\to\rho\ell^+\ell^-$ are sensitive to non-universal
soft-breaking effects in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with
R-parity conservation. We separately study the sensitivity of these modes to
R-parity violating effects and derive new bounds on R-parity violating
couplings. We also obtain predictions for these decays within extensions of the
Standard Model, including extensions of the Higgs, gauge and fermion sectors,
as well as models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking.


title: Brane fluctuation and the electroweak chiral Lagrangian

abstract:
  We use the external field method to study the electroweak chiral Lagrangian
of the extra dimension model with brane fluctuation. Under the assumption that
the contact terms between the matters of the standard model and KK excitations
are heavily suppressed, we use the standard procedure to integrate out the
quantum fields of KK excitations and the equation of motion to eliminate the
classic fields of KK excitations. At one-loop level, we find that up to the
order $O(p^4)$, due to the momentum conservation of the fifth dimension and the
gauge symmetry of the zero modes, there is no constraint on the size of extra
dimension. This result is consistent with the decoupling theorem. However,
meaningful constraints can come from those operators in $O(p^6)$, which can
contribute considerably to some anomalous vector couplings and can be
accessible in the LC and LHC.


title: Charge radii of light and heavy mesons

abstract:
  We calculate the electromagnetic (EM) form factors of the pseudoscalar mesons
in the light-front framework. Specifically, these form factors are extracted
from the relevant matrix elements directly, instead of choosing the Breit
frame. The results show that the charge radius of the meson is related to both
the first and second longitudinal momentum square derivatives of the momentum
distribution function. The static properties of the EM form factors and the
heavy quark symmetry of the charge radii are checked analytically in the heavy
quark limit. In addition, we use the Gaussia-type wavefunction to obtain the
numerical results.


title: Relic neutralinos

abstract:
  Phenomenology of relic neutralinos is analyzed in an effective supersymmetric
scheme at the electroweak scale. It is shown that current direct experiments
for WIMPs, when interpreted in terms of relic neutralinos, are indeed probing
regions of supersymmetric parameter space compatible with all present
experimental bounds.


title: Physics Opportunities in Ultraperipheral Heavy Ion Collisions at LHC

abstract:
  Due to coherence, there are strong electromagnetic fields of short duration
in very peripheral heavy ion collisions. They give rise to photon-photon and
photon-nucleus collisions with high flux. Photon-photon and photon-hadron
physics at various invariant mass scales are discussed.


title: Coherent electromagnetic processes in relativistic heavy ion collisions

abstract:
  Using the strong electromagnetic fields in peripheral heavy ion collisions
gives rise to a number of interesting possibilities of applications in both
photon-photon and photon-hadron physics. We look at the theoretical foundations
of the equivalent photon approximation and the specific problems in the heavy
ion case. The interesting physics processes that can be studied in this way are
outlined. Electron positron pair production plays a special role. We look at
multiple pair production and Coulomb corrections as typical strong field
effects. But electron positron pair production is also an important loss
process and has some practical applications.


title:
Effects of matter density variations on dominant oscillations in long
  baseline neutrino experiments

abstract:
  Variations around the average density and composition of the Earth mantle may
affect long-baseline (anti)neutrino oscillations through matter effects. For
baselines not exceeding a few thousand km, such effects are known to be very
small, and can be practically regarded as fractional contributions to the
theoretical uncertainties. We perturbatively derive compact expressions to
evaluate such contributions in phenomenologically interesting scenarios with
three or four neutrinos and a dominant mass scale.


title:
A universal Regge pole model for all vector meson exclusive
  photoproduction by real and virtual photons

abstract:
  A model based on a dipole Pomeron framework for vector meson exclusive
photoproduction by real and virtual photons shows very good agreement with the
experimental data. The model does not violate unitarity constrains and
describes in a universal manner all the available data for $\rho$, $\omega$,
$\phi$, $J/\psi$ and $\Upsilon$ vector meson photoproduction in the region of
energies $1.7\le W \le 250 GeV$ and photon virtualities $0 \le Q^2 \le 35
GeV^2$.


title: Present and Future in Semileptonic B Decays

abstract:
  In this talk I review the status of our ability to extract the CKM matrix
elements |Vub| and |Vcb| from semileptonic decays. I will review both exclusive
and inclusive methods and put a strong emphasis on how to ensure keeping the
extractions model independent.


title: A quark-model based study of the triton binding energy

abstract:
  The three-nucleon bound state problem is studied employing a nucleon-nucleon
potential obtained from a basic quark-quark interaction in a five-channel
Faddeev calculation. The obtained triton binding energy is comparable to those
predicted by conventional models of the $NN$ force.


title: Charmless Exclusive Baryonic B Decays

abstract:
  We present a systematical study of two-body and three-body charmless baryonic
B decays. Branching ratios for two-body modes are in general very small,
typically less than $10^{-6}$, except that $\B(B^-\to p \bar\Delta^{--})\sim
1\times 10^{-6}$. In general, $\bar B\to N\bar\Delta>\bar B\to N\bar N$ due to
the large coupling constant for $\Sigma_b\to B\Delta$. For three-body modes we
focus on octet baryon final states. The leading three-dominated modes are $\bar
B^0\to p\bar n\pi^-(\rho^-), n\bar p\pi^+(\rho^+)$ with a branching ratio of
order $3\times 10^{-6}$ for $\bar B^0\to p\bar n\pi^-$ and $8\times 10^{-6}$
for $\bar B^0\to p\bar n\rho^-$. The penguin-dominated decays with strangeness
in the meson, e.g., $B^-\to p\bar p K^{-(*)}$ and $\bar B^0\to p\bar n
K^{-(*)}, n\bar n \bar K^{0(*)}$, have appreciable rates and the $N\bar N$ mass
spectrum peaks at low mass. The penguin-dominated modes containing a strange
baryon, e.g., $\bar B^0\to \Sigma^0\bar p\pi^+, \Sigma^-\bar n\pi^+$, have
branching ratios of order $(1\sim 4)\times 10^{-6}$. In contrast, the decay
rate of $\bar B^0\to\Lambda\bar p\pi^+$ is smaller. We explain why some of
charmless three-body final states in which baryon-antibaryon pair production is
accompanied by a meson have a larger rate than their two-body counterparts:
either the pole diagrams for the former have an anti-triplet bottom baryon
intermediate state, which has a large coupling to the $B$ meson and the
nucleon, or they are dominated by the factorizable external $W$-emission
process.


title: Neutrino masses through see-saw mechanism in 3-3-1 models

abstract:
  Some years ago it was shown by Ma that in the context of the electroweak
standard model there are, at the tree level, only three ways to generate small
neutrino masses by the see-saw mechanism via one effective dimension-five
operator. Here we extend this approach to 3-3-1 chiral models showing that in
this case there are several dimension-five operators and we also consider their
tree level realization.


title:
Black Holes from Cosmic Rays: Probes of Extra Dimensions and New Limits
  on TeV-Scale Gravity

abstract:
  If extra spacetime dimensions and low-scale gravity exist, black holes will
be produced in observable collisions of elementary particles. For the next
several years, ultra-high energy cosmic rays provide the most promising window
on this phenomenon. In particular, cosmic neutrinos can produce black holes
deep in the Earth's atmosphere, leading to quasi-horizontal giant air showers.
We determine the sensitivity of cosmic ray detectors to black hole production
and compare the results to other probes of extra dimensions. With n \ge 4 extra
dimensions, current bounds on deeply penetrating showers from AGASA already
provide the most stringent bound on low-scale gravity, requiring a fundamental
Planck scale M_D > 1.3 - 1.8 TeV. The Auger Observatory will probe M_D as large
as 4 TeV and may observe on the order of a hundred black holes in 5 years. We
also consider the implications of angular momentum and possible exponentially
suppressed parton cross sections; including these effects, large black hole
rates are still possible. Finally, we demonstrate that even if only a few black
hole events are observed, a standard model interpretation may be excluded by
comparison with Earth-skimming neutrino rates.


title: Lepton masses in a supersymmetric 3-3-1 model

abstract:
  We consider the mass generation for both charginos and neutralinos in a 3-3-1
supersymmetric model. We show that R-parity breaking interactions leave the
electron and one of the neutrinos massless at the tree level. However the same
interactions induce masses for these particles at the 1-loop level. Unlike the
similar situation in the MSSM the masses of the neutralinos are related to the
masses of the charginos.


title: High-energy neutrino oscillations in absorbing matter

abstract:
  The impact of neutrino mixing, refraction and absorption on high-energy
neutrino propagation through a thick medium is studied using the MSW evolution
equation with complex indices of refraction. It is found that, owing to the
mixing with sterile neutrinos, the penetrability of active neutrinos may be
many orders of magnitude larger than it would be in the absence of mixing. The
effect is highly sensitive to changes in density and composition of the matter
background as well as to neutrino energy and mixing parameters. This may lead
to observational consequences in neutrino astrophysics.

categories: hep-ph astro-ph physics.space-ph quant-ph


title: STAR results from the first RHIC year

abstract:
  An overview is presented of the results of the STAR experiment from the
analysis of Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} = 130$ GeV acquired during
the first year of RHIC operation. The transverse momentum distribution of
negative hadrons has been studied out to 6 GeV/$c$ in central Au+Au collisions
and elliptic flow measurements out to 4.5 GeV/$c$ in non-central collisions.
This allows us to study hard processes and potentially effects of nuclear
matter on parton propagation. Soft processes, which dominate particle
production below around 2 GeV/$c$, have also been studied through the
identified spectra of kaons, $\bar{p}$, and strange baryons.


title: Two-loop renormalization of tan beta and its gauge dependence

abstract:
  Renormalization of two-loop divergent corrections to the vacuum expectation
values (v_1, v_2) of the two Higgs doublets in the minimal supersymmetric
standard model, and their ratio tan beta=v_2/v_1, is discussed for general R_xi
gauge fixings. When the renormalized (v_1, v_2) are defined to give the minimum
of the loop-corrected effective potential, it is shown that, beyond the
one-loop level, the dimensionful parameters in the R_xi gauge fixing term
generate gauge dependence of the renormalized tan beta. Additional shifts of
the Higgs fields are necessary to realize the gauge-independent renormalization
of tan beta.


title: Resonances from a Hadronic Fireball

abstract:
  Production of $\phi(1020), \Lambda^*(1520)$ and $\bar{K^*}(892)$ resonances
at the final stage of a heavy-ion collision is considered. It is shown that
original momentum distributions and abundance of resonances formed during the
process of heavy ion collision may differ significantly from their measured
spectra and yields. Reconstruction probability of resonances decaying inside
the fireball can be strongly suppressed because of interactions of their
hadronic decay products in the fireball medium. We investigate dependence of
the degree of the suppression on the fireball size, dynamics, and the resonance
decay width in medium. Quantitative results are presented for lead-lead
collisions at 158 GeV SPS beam energy.


title: Particle Production in Cosmology and Imaginary Time Method

abstract:
  After brief personal recollections of the author's long-time friendship with
Misha Marinov the problem of particle production by classical time- varying
scalar field is discussed. In the quasiclassical limit the calculations are
done by imaginary time method developed, in particular, in Marinov's works. The
method permits to obtain simple analytical expressions which well agree with
the later found numerical solutions. The results are compared with perturbative
calculations and it is argued that perturbation theory gives an upper limit for
the rate of production.


title: Fundamental physics at an X-ray free electron laser

abstract:
  X-ray free electron lasers (FELs) have been proposed to be constructed both
at SLAC in the form of the so-called Linac Coherent Light Source as well as at
DESY, where the so-called XFEL laboratory is part of the design of the
electron-positron linear collider TESLA. In addition to the immediate
applications in condensed matter physics, chemistry, material science, and
structural biology, X-ray FELs may be employed also to study some physics
issues of fundamental nature. In this context, one may mention the boiling of
the vacuum (Schwinger pair creation in an external field), horizon physics
(Unruh effect), and axion production. We review these X-ray FEL opportunities
of fundamental physics and discuss the necessary technological improvements in
order to achieve these goals.

categories: hep-ph physics.ins-det physics.optics physics.plasm-ph


title:
Comment on the Pion Pole Part of the Light-by-Light Contribution to the
  Muon $g-2$

abstract:
  We comment on the recent calculations of the pion pole part of the
light-by-light contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment and we point
out where the analysis in our previous work was mistaken.