title: Mass of the Neutrino and Its Charge

abstract:
  Both electron and its neutrino possess not only the anomalous magnetic moment
but also each of the existing types of electric charges and their dipole
moments. Any of them can interact with field of emission leading to the elastic
scattering on a spinless nucleus. We list some implications implied from the
analysis of these phenomena in the case of one-photon exchange. The process
cross sections give the possibility to establish an individual as well as a
united equation between the Dirac and Pauli form factors of light leptons. They
define an electronic neutrino electric charge as a consequence of the
availability of a kind of mass.


title: Features of high energy pp elastic scattering at small t

abstract:
  A method of determination of the real part of the elastic scattering
amplitude is examined for high energy proton-proton and proton-nuclei elastic
scattering at small momentum transfer. The method allows to decrease the number
of model assumptions, to obtain the real parts of the spin non-flip and
spin-flip amplitudes in the narrow region of momentum transfer.


title:
Searching for the Annual Modulation of Dark Matter signal with the
  GENIUS-TF experiment

abstract:
  The annual modulation of the recoil spectrum observed in an underground
detector is well known as the main signature of a possible WIMP signal. The
GENIUS-TF experiment, under construction in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory,
can search for the annual modulation of the Dark Matter signal using 40 kg of
naked-Ge detectors in liquid nitrogen. Starting from a set of data simulated
under the hypothesis of modulation and using different methods, we show the
potential of GENIUS-TF for extracting the modulated signal and the expected
WIMP mass and WIMP cross section.


title: 85Kr and 39Ar background in GENIUS

abstract:
  GENIUS is a proposal for a large scale detector of rare events like double
beta decay, cold dark matter and low-energy solar neutrinos in real time. The
idea of GENIUS is to operate a large amount of ``naked'' Ge detectors in liquid
nitrogen, with the aim of reducing the background down to a level of 10^(-3)
counts/kg keV y. In this work we investigate the contribution to the background
of GENIUS coming from argon (39Ar) and krypton (85Kr) contamination in the
liquid nitrogen.


title: Higgs as a Holographic Pseudo-Goldstone Boson

abstract:
  The AdS/CFT correspondence allows to relate 4D strongly coupled theories to
weakly coupled theories in 5D AdS. We use this correspondence to study a
scenario in which the Higgs appears as a composite pseudo-Goldstone boson (PGB)
of a strongly coupled theory. We show how a non-linearly realized global
symmetry protects the Higgs mass and guarantees the absence of quadratic
divergences at any loop order. The gauge and Yukawa interactions for the PGB
Higgs are introduced in a simply way in the 5D AdS theory, and their one-loop
contributions to the Higgs potential are calculated using perturbation theory.
These contributions are finite, giving a squared-mass to the Higgs which is
one-loop smaller than the mass of the first Kaluza-Klein state. We also show
that if the symmetry breaking is caused by boundary conditions in the extra
dimension, the PGB Higgs corresponds to the fifth component of the bulk gauge
boson. To make the model fully realistic, a tree-level Higgs quartic coupling
must be induced. We present a possible mechanism to generate it and discuss the
conditions under which an unwanted large Higgs mass term is avoided.


title: New extraction of alpha_s(MZ) from proton DIS data

abstract:
  An exploratory study for a new determination of the strong coupling constant
alpha_s(MZ) from existing world data on the proton structure function F2p in
the Q**2-range from ~ 5 to ~ 120 (GeV/c)**2 is presented. The main features of
our approach are: 1) the use of low-order Nachtmann moments evaluated with a
direct contribution from data larger than 70% of the total; 2) the inclusion of
high-order perturbative effects through the soft gluon resummation technique;
3) a direct control over higher-twist effects; and 4) the independence from any
specific choice of the x-shape of the input parton distributions. At
next-to-leading order we get alpha_s(MZ) = 0.1209 +/- 0.0010 (stat.) +/- 0.0015
(syst.) with a significant dependence upon the order of the moment used.
Including soft gluon effects we obtain alpha_s(MZ) = 0.1188 +/- 0.0010 (stat.)
+/- 0.0014 (syst.) with a remarkable better stability against the order of the
moment. Our findings are compared with recent DIS determinations of alpha_s(MZ)
and directions for future improvements are discussed.


title: "Branes" in lattice SU(2) gluodynamics

abstract:
  We review lattice evidence for existence of thin vortices in the vacuum state
of SU(2) gluodynamics. On the average, the non-Abelian action density per unit
area is ultraviolet divergent as a^{-2} where a is the lattice spacing. At
small scales, the surface looks very crumpled so that the corresponding entropy
factor appears also ultraviolet divergent. The total area, however, scales in
physical units. The surface is populated by monopoles which represent a
tachyonic mode. The smallest value of $a$ tested is about (3 GeV)^{-1}.


title:
Fine Tuning in Lattice SU(2) Gluodynamics vs Continuum-Theory
  Constraints

abstract:
  Recently, it has been observed that the non-Abelian action associated with
lattice monopoles and vortices is ultraviolet divergent, at least at presently
available lattices. On the other hand, the total length of the monopole
trajectories and area of the vortices scale in physical units. Coexistence of
the two different scales, infrared and ultraviolet, for the same vacuum
fluctuations represents a fine tuning. To check consistency of the newly
emerging picture of non--perturbative fluctuations we consider constraints from
the continuum theory on the ultraviolet behaviour of the monopoles and
vortices. The constraints turn to be satisfied by the data in a highly
non-trivial way. Namely, it is crucial that the monopoles populate not the
whole of the four dimensional space but a two-dimensional subspace of it.


title: Rare Decays of D Mesons

abstract:
  We analyze the dominant decay mechanisms in the radiative decays D -> V
gamma, D -> P(V) l+ l-, D -> gamma gamma, D -> l+ l- gamma, and we discuss
possible chances to observe the effects of new physics in these decays. Then we
comment on Cabibbo allowed D -> K pi gamma decays with nonresonant K pi and we
probe the role of light vector mesons in these decays.


title: New "Square Root" Model of Lepton Family Cyclic Symmetry

abstract:
  Following the newly formulated notion of form invariance of the neutrino mass
matrix, a complete model of leptons is constructed. It is based on a specific
unitary 3 X 3 matrix U in family space, such that U^2 is the simple discrete
symmetry nu_e to -nu_e, nu_mu to nu_tau. Thus U also generates the cyclic group
Z_4. The charged-lepton mass matrix is nearly diagonal while the neutrino mass
matrix is of the form suitable for explaining maximal (large) mixing in
atmospheric (solar) neutrino oscillations in the context of three nearly
degenerate neutrino masses. Observable lepton flavor violation is predicted.
Quarks may be treated in the same way as the charged leptons.


title: Phenomenology of Neutrino Masses and Mixings

abstract:
  We review theoretical ideas, problems and implications of neutrino masses and
mixing angles. We give a general discussion of schemes with three light
neutrinos. Several specific examples are analyzed in some detail, particularly
those that can be embedded into grand unified theories.


title:
How to rule out Little Higgs (and constrain many other models) at the
  LHC

abstract:
  In this talk I describe how to discover or rule out the existence of
W^{prime} bosons at the CERN Large Hadron Collider as a function of arbitrary
couplings and W^{prime} masses. If W^{prime} bosons are not found, I
demonstrate the 95% confidence-level exclusions that can be reached for several
classes of models. In particular, W^{prime} bosons in the entire reasonable
parameter space of Little Higgs models can be discovered or excluded in 1 year
at the LHC.


title: The physics models of FLUKA: status and recent development

abstract:
  A description of the intermediate and high energy hadronic interaction models
used in the FLUKA code is given. Benchmarking against experimental data is also
reported in order to validate the model performances. Finally the most recent
developments and perspectives for nucleus-nucleus interactions are described
together with some comparisons with experimental data.


title:
Next-to-leading order QCD calculations with parton showers II: soft
  singularities

abstract:
  Programs that calculate observables in quantum chromodynamics at
next-to-leading order typically generate events that consist of partons rather
than hadrons -- and just a few partons at that. These programs would be much
more useful if the few partons were turned into parton showers, which could be
given to one of the Monte Carlo event generators to produce hadron showers. In
a previous paper, we have seen how to generate parton showers related to the
final state collinear singularities of the perturbative calculation for the
example of e+ + e- --> 3 jets. This paper discusses the treatment of the soft
singularities.


title:
Complete twist-decomposition for non-local QCD vector operators in
  $x$-space

abstract:
  A general procedure is introduced allowing for the complete, infinite twist
decomposition of non-local vector operators in QCD off the light-cone. The
method is applied to the operators $\bar\psi(x) \gamma_\mu \psi(-x)$ and
$\bar\psi(x) \sigma_{\mu\nu} x^\nu \psi(-x)$ as well as to their matrix
elements thereby determining all power (resp. target mass) corrections being
relevant for the related distribution amplitudes.


title: Flavour Symmetry and Clean Strategies to Extract $\gamma$

abstract:
  One of the key elements in the testing of the Standard-Model description of
CP violation through $B$-meson decays is the direct determination of the angle
$\gamma$ of the unitarity triangle in a variety of ways. We give a brief
overview of the implications of the current $B$-factory data for
flavour-symmetry strategies, and discuss new, theoretically clean methods
employing pure tree decays of neutral $B_{d,s}$ mesons.


title:
CP asymmetry in $B^- \to \pi^+ \pi^- K^-$ and $B^- \to K^+ K^- K^-$
  decays

abstract:
  The near equality between the measured value for $|V_{ub}|/|V_{cb}|$ and its
unitarity triangle lower bound from $\sin 2\beta$ measurements suggests that
$\alpha \approx 90^{\circ}$ and $\sin\gamma \approx \cos\beta = 0.91$ and a
large direct CP violation in B decays would be possible. In this talk, I would
like to discuss a recent analysis of the non resonant and resonant CP asymmetry
for the decays $B^- \to \pi^+ \pi^- K^-$ and $B^- \to K^+ K^- K^-$ where the CP
asymmetry at the $\chi_{c0}$ resonance comes from the interference of the non
resonant amplitude with the resonant amplitude $B^\pm \to \chi_{c0} K^\pm $ $
\to\pi^+ \pi^- K^\pm $ and $B^\pm \to \chi_{c0} K^\pm$ $ \to K^+ K^- K^\pm$.
Using the the Babar and Belle measurements of the $B^-\to \chi_{c0} K^- $
branching ratios, we predict that partial width asymmetry at the $\chi_{c0}$
resonance could reach 10% for the $B^- \to \pi^+ \pi^- K^-$ decay and 16% for
the $B^- \to K^+ K^- K^-$decay.


title: CP-violation in the neutralino system

abstract:
  Supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model provide new sources of CP
violation. Here the CP properties of neutralinos are described and possible
experimental signatures of CP--violation in the neutralino production processes
at e+e- linear colliders are discussed.


title: Prospects for Bd,Bs --> h+h- measurements at LHCb

abstract:
  LHCb will collect large samples of Bd and Bs decays. Combining the
CP-violating observables of the decays Bd-->pi+pi- and Bs-->K+K- it is possible
to extract the gamma angle of the unitarity triangle. The selection of these
decays within the current LHCb simulation framework is outlined and the
expected annual event yields and background-to-signal ratios are quoted. Then,
the results of a study on the sensitivity that LHCb can achieve for the
corresponding CP-violating observables are presented.


title:
Understanding the $D^+_{sJ}(2317)$ and $D^+_{sJ}(2460)$ with Sum Rules
  in HQET

abstract:
  In the framework of heavy quark effective theory we use QCD sum rules to
calculate the masses of the $\bar c s$ $(0^+, 1^+)$ and $(1^+, 2^+)$ excited
states. The results are consistent with that the states $D_{sJ}(2317)$ and
$D_{sJ}(2460)$ observed by BABAR and CLEO are the $0^+$ and $1^+$ states in the
$j_l={1\over 2}^+$ doublet.


title:
Manifestly Covariant Analysis of the QED Compton Process in $e p\to e
  \gamma p$ and $e p \to e \gamma X$

abstract:
  We calculate the unpolarized QED Compton scattering cross section in a
manifestly covariant way. Our approach allows a direct implementation of the
specific kinematical cuts imposed in the experiments, {\it e. g.} HERA-H1. We
compare the 'exact' cross section in terms of the structure functions $F_{1,2}
(x_B,Q^2)$, assuming the Callan-Gross relation, with the one obtained using the
equivalent photon approximation (EPA) as well as with the experimental results.
We find that the agreement with the EPA is better in $x_{\gamma}$ bins, where
$x_{\gamma}$ is the fraction of the longitudinal momentum of the proton carried
by the virtual photon, compared to the bins in the leptonic variable $x_l$.


title: Non factorizable effects in nonleptonic B decays to charmonium

abstract:
  We discuss the validity of factorization for exclusive two-body B to
charmonium transitions. In particular, we consider the role of non factorizable
corrections in selected two-body modes.


title: Vector Manifestation in Hot Matter and Violation of Vector Dominance

abstract:
  We summarize main mechanisms to realize the vector manifestation (VM), in
which the massless vector meson becomes the chiral partner of pion, at the
critical temperature in hot QCD within the framework of the model based on the
hidden local symmetry. Then, we show a recent analysis on the direct
photon-pi-pi coupling which measures the validity of the vector dominance (VD)
of the electromagnetic form factor of the pion: The VM predicts that the VD is
largely violated at the critical temperature.


title: Supersymmetric effects in top quark decay into polarized W-boson

abstract:
  We investigate the one-loop supersymmetric QCD (SUSY-QCD) and electroweak
(SUSY-EW) corrections to the top quark decay into a b-quark and a longitudinal
or transverse W-boson. The corrections are presented in terms of the
longitudinal ratio \Gamma(t-->W_L b)/\Gamma(t--> W b) and the transverse ratio
\Gamma(t-->W_- b)/\Gamma(t--> W b). In most of the parameter space, both
SUSY-QCD and SUSY-EW corrections to these ratios are found to be less than 1%
in magnitude and they tend to have opposite signs. The corrections to the total
width \Gamma(t-->W b) are also presented for comparison with the existing
results in the literature. We find that our SUSY-EW corrections to the total
width differ significantly from previous studies: the previous studies give a
large correction of more than 10% in magnitude for a large part of the
parameter space while our results reach only few percent at most.


title: On solutions of the Balitsky-Kovchegov equation with impact parameter

abstract:
  We numerically analyze the Balitsky-Kovchegov equation with the full
dependence on impact parameter b. We show that due to a particular b-dependence
of the initial condition the amplitude decreases for large dipole sizes r. Thus
the region of saturation has a finite extension in the dipole size r, and its
width increases with rapidity. We also calculate the b-dependent saturation
scale and discuss limitations on geometric scaling. We demonstrate the instant
emergence of the power-like tail in impact parameter, which is due to the long
range contributions. Thus the resulting cross section violates the Froissart
bound despite the presence of a nonlinear term responsible for saturation.


title:
New effects in neutrino oscillations in matter and electromagnetic
  fields

abstract:
  Within the recently developed Lorentz invariant approach to neutrino spin and
flavour oscillations the following four new effects are discussed: 1) neutrino
spin oscillations in different electromagnetic field configurations, 2)
neutrino spin precession and oscillations stimulated by weak interaction with
background matter without presence of electromagnetic fields, 3) the
significant shift of neutrino spin and flavour oscillation resonances by matter
moving with relativistic speed, if compared with the case of non-moving matter,
4) the new mechanism of electromagnetic radiation by neutrino moving in
background matter and/or electromagnetic fields.


title: Impact of SUSY CP Phases on Stop and Sbottom Decays in the MSSM

abstract:
  We study the decays of top squarks and bottom squarks in the Minimal
Supersymmetric Standard Model with complex parameters A_t, A_b and mu. In a
large region of the supersymmetric parameter space the branching ratios of
stop_1 and sbottom_1 show a pronounced phase dependence. This could have an
important impact on the search for stop_1 and sbottom_1 at a future linear
collider and on the determination of the supersymmetric parameters.


title: Neutrino Physics: an Update

abstract:
  We update our recent didactic survey of neutrino physics, including new
results from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory and KamLAND experiments, and
recent constraints from WMAP and other cosmological probes.


title:
More Transverse Polarization Signatures of Extra Dimensions at Linear
  Colliders

abstract:
  Polarization of both electron and positron beams at a future linear collider
(LC) allows for the measurement of transverse polarization asymmetries. These
asymmetries have been shown to be particularly sensitive to graviton or other
spin-2, $s-$channel exchanges in the process $e^+e^- \to f\bar f (f\neq e)$
which allows for a doubling of the usual search reach. A question then arises
as to whether other $e^+e^-$ processes also show comparable sensitivity. Here
we extend our previous analysis to the set of final states $e^+e^-,
W^+W^-,~2\gamma$ and $~2Z$ as well as to the M{\o}ller scattering process
$e^-e^-\to e^-e^-$. We demonstrate that these reactions yield transverse
polarization asymmetries which are somewhat less sensitive to graviton exchange
than are those obtained in our earlier analysis for $e^+e^-\to f\bar f$.


title: $B$ Physics (Theory)

abstract:
  Some theoretical aspects of $B$ physics are reviewed. These include a brief
recapitulation of information on weak quark transitions as described by the
Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix, a description of CP asymmetries in $B$
decays to CP eigenstates and self-tagging modes, a discussion of final-state
phases in $B$ and charm decays, some topics on $B_s$ properties and decays, the
prospects for unusual excited $B$ states opened by discovery of some narrow $c
\bar s$ resonances, and the prospects for seeing the heavier $Q=1/3$ quarks
predicted in some extended grand unified theories.


title:
Probing Polarized Gluon Distributions through Charmed Hadron Production
  in Polarized pp Collisions at BNL--RHIC Energy

abstract:
  In order to extract information about behavior of polarized gluons in the
nucleon, charmed hadron productions, i.e. D* meson and Lambda_c baryon
productions, are studied in polarized pp reactions at BNL-RHIC energy. For
these processes, the spin correlation asymmetry D_{LL} between the target
proton and the produced charmed hadron, and its statistical sensitivity delta
D_{LL} are calculated. From analyses on these processes, we found that the
pseudo-rapidity distribution of D_{LL} in the limited transverse momentum
region is quite effective for distinguishing the model of polarized gluons as
well as the model of spin-dependent fragmentation functions.


title:
Determination of the angle gamma using multibody D decays in B^+- -> D
  K^+-

abstract:
  We describe a method for determining gamma using B^+- -> D K^+- decays
followed by a multibody D decay. In the talk we focus on K_S pi^- pi^+ final
state, but other modes such as D -> K_S K^- K^+ and D -> K_S pi^- pi^+ pi^0 can
also be used. The main advantages of the method are that it uses only Cabibbo
allowed D decays, and that large strong phases are expected due to the presence
of resonances. Since no knowledge about the resonance structure is needed,
gamma can be extracted without any hadronic uncertainty.


title: QCD Phenomenology

abstract: The status of QCD phenomena and open problems are reviewed


title:
Lorentz invariance violation in top-down scenarios of ultrahigh energy
  cosmic ray creation

abstract:
  The violation of Lorentz invariance (LI) has been invoked in a number of ways
to explain issues dealing with ultrahigh energy cosmic ray (UHECR) production
and propagation. These treatments, however, have mostly been limited to
examples in the proton-neutron system and photon-electron system. In this paper
we show how a broader violation of Lorentz invariance would allow for a series
of previously forbidden decays to occur, and how that could lead to UHECR
primaries being heavy baryonic states or Higgs bosons.


title:
What Can WMAP Tell Us About The Very Early Universe? New Physics as an
  Explanation of Suppressed Large Scale Power and Running Spectral Index

abstract:
  The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe microwave background data may be
giving us clues about new physics at the transition from a ``stringy'' epoch of
the universe to the standard Friedmann Robertson Walker description. Deviations
on large angular scales of the data, as compared to theoretical expectations,
as well as running of the spectral index of density perturbations, can be
explained by new physics whose scale is set by the height of an inflationary
potential. As examples of possible signatures for this new physics, we study
the cosmic microwave background spectrum for two string inspired models: 1)
modifications to the Friedmann equations and 2) velocity dependent potentials.
The suppression of low ``l'' modes in the microwave background data arises due
to the new physics. In addition, the spectral index is red (n<1) on small
scales and blue (n>1) on large scales, in agreement with data.


title: Theoretical Aspects of Semileptonic B decays

abstract:
  Strong interactions are addressed in connection to extracting |V_{cb}| and
determining heavy quark parameters. A comprehensive approach allows a robust
analysis not relying on a 1/m_c expansion; a percent defendable accuracy in
|V_{cb}| becomes realistic. Some of the heavy quark parameters are already
accurately known. We have at least one nontrivial precision check of the OPE at
the nonperturbative level in inclusive decays. The alleged controversy between
theory and BaBar data on <M_X^2> is argued to be an artefact of oversimplifying
the OPE for high cuts in lepton energy. Consequences of the proximity to the
`BPS' limit are addressed and their accuracy qualified. It is suggested that
theory-wise B->D l\nu near zero recoil offers an accurate way for measuring
|V_{cb}|.


title:
Two-Body Dirac Equations from Relativistic Constraint Dynamics with
  Applications to QED and QCD Bound-States and to N-N Scattering

abstract:
  The formulation of relativistic two-body bound state wave equations and the
study of their relationship to quantum field theory began with work by
Eddington and Gaunt in 1928. However, the large variety of approaches attempted
in recent years shows that this problem still has no generally agreed-upon
solution. We describe here a recent approach resulting from " Two-Body Dirac
Equations" (emerging from Dirac's Relativistic Constraint Dynamics) that
satisfies many of the requirements one would demand of a treatment of the
relativistic two-body problem. We use its applications to QED bound states such
as positronium, QCD quarkonia, and the nucleon-nucleon scattering problem to
demonstrate the advantages of the approach.


title:
Charmless hadronic decays $B \to VV$ in the Topcolor-assisted
  Technicolor model

abstract:
  Based on the effective Hamiltonian with the generalized factorization
approach, we calculate the branching ratios and CP asymmetries of $B \to VV$
decays in the Topcolor-assisted Technicolor (TC2) model. Within the considered
parameter space we find that: (a) for the penguin-dominated $B \to K^{*+}\phi$
and $K^{*0}\phi$ decays, the new physics enhancements to the branching ratios
are around 40%; (b) the measured branching ratios of $B \to K^{*+} \phi$ and $
K^{*0} \phi$ decays prefer the range of $3 \lesssim \nceff \lesssim 5$; (c) the
SM and TC2 model predictions for the branching ratio ${\cal B}(B^+ \to \rho^+
\rho^0)$ are only about half of the Belle's measurement; and (d) for most $B
\to VV$ decays, the new physics corrections on their CP asymmetries are
generally small or moderate in magnitude and insensitive to the variation of
$\mpcc$ and $\nceff$.


title: CP violation in the decay mode $B\to \pi \gamma \gamma$

abstract:
  Within the framework of Standard Model, the exclusive decay mode $B\to \pi
\gamma \gamma $ is studied. Although the usual short distance contribution is
small compared to the similar $B\to K\gamma\gamma$ mode, the process offers the
possibility of studying the CP violation, a feature absent in the $B \to K$
counterpart.


title: On the resonant and non-resonant contributions to B\to\rho\pi

abstract:
  We discuss the importance of the background in order to understand the
scattering in the J^{PC}=0^{++} low and intermediate energy region and in
particular regarding the \sigma meson. In order to appreciate better its
importance we compare with the \rho meson in the P-wave \pi\pi scattering. We
also point out that in present analyses of three-body heavy meson decays, like
those of D^+ and B, the role of this background is still not properly settled
although it happens to be considerably smaller.


title: B_K from quenched QCD with exact chiral symmetry

abstract:
  We present a calculation of the standard model \Delta S=2 matrix element
relevant to indirect CP violation in K->\pi\pi decays which uses Neuberger's
chiral formulation of lattice fermions. The computation is performed in the
quenched approximation on a 16^3x32 lattice that has a lattice spacing a\sim
0.1 fm. The resulting bare matrix element is renormalized non-perturbatively.
Our main result is B_K^{RGI}=0.87(8)^{+2+14}_{-1-14}, where the first error is
statistical, the second is systematic and the third is an estimate of the
uncertainty associated with the quenched approximation and with the fact that
our kaons are composed of degenerate s and d quarks with masses \sim m_s/2.


title: Bounds on models with one latticized extra dimension

abstract:
  We study an extension of the standard model with one latticized extra
dimension accessible to all fields. The model is characterized by the size of
the extra dimension and the number of sites, and contains a tower of massive
particles. At energies lower than the mass of the new particles there are no
tree-level effects. Therefore, bounds on the scale of new physics can only be
set from one-loop processes. We calculate several observables sensitive to
loop-effects, such as the $\rho$ parameter, $b\to s \gamma$, $Z\to b\bar b$,
and the $B^0\rightleftharpoons\bar{B}^0$ mixing, and use them to set limits on
the lightest new particles for different number of sites. It turns out that the
continuous result is rapidly reached when the extra dimension is discretized in
about 10 to 20 sites only. For small number of sites the bounds placed on the
usual continuous scenario can be reduced by roughly a factor of 10%--25%, which
means that the new particles can be as light as $320 {GeV}$. Finally, we
briefly discuss an alternative model in which fermions do not have additional
modes.


title:
Detection of heavy charged Higgs bosons in $e^+e^-\to t\bar b H^-$
  production at future Linear Colliders

abstract:
  Heavy charged Higgs bosons ($H^\pm$) of a Type II 2-Higgs Doublet Model
(2HDM) can be detected at future electron-positron Linear Colliders (LCs) even
when their mass is larger than half the collider energy. The single Higgs mode
$e^+e^-\to t\bar b H^- + ~{\rm{c.c.}} \to 4b +{\rm{j}}{\rm{j}} + \ell +
p_T^{\rm{miss}}$ (where j represents a jet and with $\ell=e,\mu$) contributes
to extend the discovery reach of $H^\pm$ states into the mass region
$M_{H^\pm}\gsim \sqrt s/2$, where the well studied pair production channel
$e^+e^-\to H^-H^+$ is no longer available. With a technique that allows one to
reconstruct the neutrino four-momentum in the decay $t\to b W^+\to b
\ell^+\nu$, one can suppress the initially overwhelming main irreducible
background due to $e^+e^-\to t\bar t b\bar b$ (via a gluon splitting into
$b\bar b$ pairs) to a negligible level. However, for currently foreseen
luminosities, one can establish a statistically significant $H^\pm$ signal only
over a rather limited mass region, of 20 GeV or so, beyond $M_{H^\pm}\approx
\sqrt s/2$, for very large or very small values of $\tan\beta$ and provided
high $b$-tagging efficiency can be achieved.


title: Hadronic pollution in B -> rho pi?

abstract:
  The B -> 3pi decay via rho has been shown, in two independent calculations,
to be very sensible to the B -> sigma pi background. This potentially
complicates the extraction of alpha through the isospin analysis of B -> rho
pi. I will briefly review this topic.


title:
Precision computation of the leptonic D_s-meson decay constant in
  quenched QCD

abstract:
  We summarize a computation of the leptonic decay constant f_D_s of the
D_s-meson in quenched QCD on the lattice. We perform a direct simulation at the
masses of the strange and the charm quarks at four different lattice spacings
from approximately 0.1 fm to 0.05 fm. Fully non perturbative O(a)-improvement
is employed. After taking the continuum limit we arrive at a value of
f_D_s=252(9) MeV, when setting the scale with the Kaon decay constant f_K=160
MeV. Setting the scale with the nucleon mass instead leads to a decrease of
about 20 MeV of f_D_s.


title:
On some erroneous comments on the literature of neutrino oscillations in
  the website `Neutrino Unbound' of C.Giunti

abstract:
  A number of misleading or incorrect comments by C.Giunti on seven arXiv
preprints that I have written on the theory of neutrino oscillations are
discussed. The essential new features of my approach are also briefly reviewed


title: Sources of time reversal odd spin asymmetries in QCD

abstract:
  Generation of T-odd single spin asymmetries (SSA) by the various ingredients
of QCD factorization is discussed. The possible use of SSA in studies of
Generalized Parton Distribution (GPD) at HERA with the polarized lepton beam is
suggested. The role of GPD in the investigation of orbital angular momenta of
partons is discussed. The generalization of Equivalence principle, leading to
the equipartition of momenta and total angular momenta, violated in
perturbation theory, but possibly restored due to confinement and chiral
symmetry breaking, is proposed. The T-odd fragmentation and fracture function
are considered. The T-odd distribution (Sivers) function may be only effective,
due to the imaginary cuts in the SIDIS and Drell-Yan process, while the
existence of such universal functions should lead, after the integration over
transverse momentum, to the strong T violation in polarized DIS.


title: Entropy for $SU(3)_c$ Quark States

abstract:
  We discuss the quantum state structure using the standard model for three
colored quarks in the fundamental representations of $SU(3)_c$ making up the
singlet ground state of the hadrons. This allows us to calculate a finite von
Neumann entropy from the quantum reduced density matrix, which we explicitly
evaluate for the quarks in a model for the meson and baryon states. Finally we
look into the general effects and implications of entanglement in the $SU(3)_c$
color space.


title: Decay of Super-Heavy particles: User guide of the SHdecay program

abstract:
  I give here a detailed user guide for the C++ program SHdecay, which has been
developed for computing the final spectra of stable particles (protons,
photons, LSPs, electrons, neutrinos of the three species and their
antiparticles) arising from the decay of a super-heavy X particle. It allows to
compute in great detail the complete decay cascade for any given decay mode
into particles of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). In
particular, it takes into account all interactions of the MSSM during the
perturbative cascade (including not only QCD, but also the electroweak and 3rd
generation Yukawa interactions), and includes a detailed treatment of the SUSY
decay cascade (for a given set of parameters) and of the non-perturbative
hadronization process. All these features allow us to ensure energy
conservation over the whole cascade up to a numerical accuracy of a few per
mille. Yet, this program also allows to restrict the computation to QCD or
SUSY-QCD frameworks. I detail the input and output files, describe the role of
each part of the program, and include some advice for using it best.


title: T-odd Correlations in the Decay of Scalar Fermions

abstract:
  We define a CP sensitive asymmetry in the sfermion decays $\ti f \to f
\ti\chi^0_j \ell \bar \ell, f \ti\chi^0_j q \bar q$, based on triple product
correlations between the momenta of the outgoing fermions. We study this
asymmetry in the MSSM with complex parameters. We show that the asymmetry is
sensitive to the phases of the parameters $\mu$ and $M_1$. The leading
contribution stems from the decay chain $\ti f\to f \ti\chi^0_j\to f
\ti\chi^0_1 Z\to f \ti\chi^0_1 \ell \bar \ell (f \ti\chi^0_1 q \bar q)$, for
which we obtain analytic formulae for the amplitude squared. The asymmetry can
go up to 3% for $\ti f\to f \ti\chi^0_1 \ell \bar \ell$, and up to 20% for $\ti
f\to f \ti\chi^0_1 q \bar q$. We also estimate the rates necessary to measure
the asymmetry.


title: Charming penguins in B -> pi pi from QCD light-cone sum rules

abstract:
  We use QCD light-cone sum rules to examine the B -> pi pi hadronic matrix
element of the current-current operator with c quarks in the penguin topology
(``charming penguin'') as a potential source of the substantial O(1/m_b)
effects. Our results indicate that charming penguins do not generate sizable
nonperturbative effects at finite m_b. The same is valid for the penguin
contractions of the current-current operators with light quarks. The dominant
penguin topology effects are predicted to be O(\alpha_s). Still, the
nonperturbative effects at finite m_b can accumulate to a visible effect that
is illustrated by calculating the CP-asymmetry in the B^0_d -> pi^+ pi^- decay.


title:
Weak decays of the B_c meson to charmonium and D mesons in the
  relativistic quark model

abstract:
  Semileptonic and nonleptonic decays of the B_c meson to charmonium and D
mesons are studied in the framework of the relativistic quark model. The decay
form factors are explicitly expressed through the overlap integrals of the
meson wave functions in the whole accessible kinematical range. The
relativistic meson wave functions are used for the calculation of the decay
rates. The obtained results are compared with the predictions of other
approaches.


title: Deep Inelastic Neutrino Interactions

abstract:
  Understanding neutrino interactions is an important task in searches for
neutrino oscillations; e.g. the nu_{mu} -> nu_{tau} oscillation hypothesis will
be tested through nu_{tau} production of tau in long-baseline experiments as
well as underground neutrino telescopes. An anomaly in the deep inelastic
interaction of neutrinos has recently been observed by the NuTeV collaboration
-- resulting in a measured weak mixing angle sin^2 Theta_{W} that differs by ~
3 sigma from the standard model expectation. In this contribution to the
proceedings of NUINT02, we summarize results on the NLO neutrino structure
functions and cross sections in which charm quark mass and target mass effects
in the collinear approximation are included.


title: Phenomenological methods for unitarity triangle angles

abstract:
  I review several methods for determining the CKM phases $\alpha \equiv
\phi_2$ and $\gamma \equiv \phi_3$ through CP asymmetry measurements in
hadronic B decays. The current status of these measurements and the near future
feasibility of the methods are discussed.


title: Entropy Production in High Energy Processes

abstract:
  We calculate the entropy produced in the decoherence of a classical field
configuration and compare it with the entropy of a fully thermalized state with
the same energy. We find that decoherence alone accounts for a large fraction
of the equilibrium entropy when each field mode is only moderately occupied. We
apply this to theories of relativistic heavy ion collisions, which describe the
initial state as a collection of coherent color fields. Our results suggest
that decoherence may partly explain the rapid formation of a high entropy state
in these collisions.


title: The QCD spectrum: mixing, strong decays and the role of sea quarks

abstract:
  The light hadron spectrum as computed in nonperturbative QCD is reviewed and
compared to lattice data and experiment. The mixing of mesons, hybrids and
glueballs is calculated in the Field Correlator Method. The strong decay
mechanisms are found out in the method and compared to the known
phenomenological models. The role of sea quarks (unquenched approximation) is
studied analytically using radially excited mesons as an example, and compared
to experiment.


title: Exclusive two-photon annihilation at large energy or large virtuality

abstract:
  I review recent progress in the theory of gamma gamma annihilation into meson
or baryon pairs at large energy, and of the process gamma* gamma* -> pi0 at
large photon virtuality.


title: Testing the Majorana nature of neutralinos in supersymmetric theories

abstract:
  We discuss selectron pair production in e- e- scattering. These processes can
only occur via t-channel neutralino exchange, provided that the neutralinos are
Majorana fermions. We concentrate on the processes e- e- -> e^~_L e^~_L,e^~_R
e^~_R -> e- X^~_1^0 e- X^~_2^0 -> e- X^~_1^0 e- X^~_1^0 f f, in which a
complete determination of the final state momenta is possible without using the
selectron masses as input. The experimental reconstruction of the selectron
masses in this decay channel provides clear evidence of the Majorana character
of the neutralinos, which is confirmed by the analysis of the electron energy
spectrum.


title: Early Universe cosmology and supergravity

abstract:
  In this talk I will describe the role of supersymmetric flat directions in
the early Universe cosmology. Particularly I will discuss how supergravity
effects lift the flat direction potential and leads to interesting cosmological
consequences.


title: SU(3) Mass Splittings for $\bar{q}q$ Mesons and $qqq$ Baryons

abstract:
  By comparing SU(3)-breaking scales of linear mass formulae, it is shown that
the lowest vector, axial-vector, and scalar mesons all have a $\bar{q}q$
configuration, while the ground-state octet and decuplet baryons are $qqq$.
Also, the quark-level linear $\sigma$ model is employed to predict similar
$\bar{q}q$ and $qqq$ states. Finally, the approximate mass degeneracy of the
scalar $a_0$(980) and $f_0$(980) mesons is demonstrated to be accidental.


title:
Spontaneous and dynamical symmetry breaking in higher-dimensional
  space-time with boundary terms

abstract:
  In this thesis we study physics beyond the standard model focusing on the
quantum field theory in higher-dimensional space-time with some boundary terms.
The boundary term causes nontrivial consequences about the vacuum structure of
the higher-dimensional theory. We take particular note of two independent
solutions to the weak and Planck hierarchy problem: ``low scale supersymmetry''
and ``dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking.'' From a viewpoint of the low
scale supersymmetry, we study $F$ and $D$ term supersymmetry breaking effects
on sparticle spectra from a boundary. While we also investigate a
nonperturbative effect caused by a bulk (nonsupersymmetric) gauge dynamics on a
fermion bilinear condensation on a boundary, and analyze the dynamical symmetry
breaking on the brane. From these analyses we conclude that the field
localization in higher-dimensional space-time involves in a nontrivial vacuum
structure of the theory, and the resultant low energy four-dimensional
effective theory has phenomenologically interesting structure. In a framework
of purely four-dimensional theory, we also construct the above nontrivial
effect of localization in the extra dimension.


title: Differential Cross Sections for Higgs Production

abstract:
  We review recent theoretical progress in evaluating higher order QCD
corrections to Higgs boson differential distributions at hadron-hadron
colliders.


title: B physics triggers at CMS

abstract:
  The CMS detector is mainly designed to investigate hard events.
  Only few Level-1 Trigger conditions are suitable to select soft B-meson
decays. The B-physics potential of CMS depends strongly on a selection strategy
at High-Level Trigger. The selection algorithms for some benchmark
  B-decay channels that allow CMS to perform competitive B-physics program are
presented.


title:
The Majorana Neutrino Mass Matrix with One Texture Zero and One
  Vanishing Eigenvalue

abstract:
  Possible patterns of the Majorana neutrino mass matrix $M$ with one texture
zero and one vanishing eigenvalue are classified and discussed. We find that
three one-zero textures of $M$ with $m_1 =0$ and four one-zero textures of $M$
with $m_3 =0$ are compatible with current neutrino oscillation data. The
implications of these phenomenological ans$\rm\ddot{a}$tze on the neutrino mass
spectrum and the neutrinoless double beta decay are also explored in some
detail.


title: Micro-Canonical Hadron Production in pp collisions

abstract:
  We apply a microcanonical statistical model to investigate hadron production
in pp collisions. The parameters of the model are the energy E and the volume V
of the system, which we determine via fitting the average multiplicity of
charged pions, protons and antiprotons in pp collisions at different collision
energies. We then make predictions of mean multiplicities and mean transverse
momenta of all identified hadrons. Our predictions on nonstrange hadrons are in
good agreement with the data, the mean transverse momenta of strange hadron as
well. However, the mean multiplicities of strange hadrons are overpredicted.
This agrees with canonical and grandcanonical studies, where a strange
suppression factor is needed. We also investigate the influence of
event-by-event fluctuations of the E parameter.


title: K^-/K^+ ratio at GSI in hot and dense matter

abstract:
  The $K^-/K^+$ ratio in heavy-ion collisions at GSI energies is studied
including the properties of the participating hadrons in hot and dense matter.
The determination of the temperature and chemical potential at freeze-out
conditions compatible with the ratio $K^-/K^+$ is very delicate, and depends on
the approach adopted for the antikaon self-energy. Three approaches for the
$K^-$ self-energy are considered: non-interacting $K^-$, on-shell self-energy
and single-particle spectral density. With respect to the on-shell approach,
the use of an energy dependent $\bar{K}$ spectral density, including both s-
and p-wave components of the $\bar{K}N$ interaction, lowers considerably the
freeze-out temperature and gives rise to the "broad-band equilibration"
advocated by Brown, Rho and Song.


title: Stable $uudd\bar s$ pentaquarks in the constituent quark model

abstract:
  The stability of strange pentaquarks $uudd\bar s$ is studied in a constituent
quark model based on a flavor-spin hyperfine interaction between quarks. With
this interaction model, which schematically represents the Goldstone boson
exchange interaction between constituent quarks, the lowest lying strange
pentaquark is a $p-$shell state with positive parity. The flavor-spin
interaction lowers the energy of the lowest $p-$shell state below that of the
lowest $s-$shell state, which has negative parity because of the negative
parity of the strange antiquark. It is found that the strange pentaquark is
stable against strong decay provided that the strange antiquark interacts by a
fairly strong spin-spin interaction with $u$ and $d$ quarks. This interaction
has a form that corresponds to $\eta$ meson exchange. Its strength may be
inferred from the $\pi^0$ decay width of $D_s^*$ mesons.


title: Electroweak radiative corrections to sfermion decays

abstract:
  We analyze the partial decay widths of sfermions decaying into charginos and
neutralinos $\Gamma(\tilde{f} -> f'\chi)$ at the one-loop level, including the
electroweak and strong corrections. We present the renormalization framework,
and discuss the value of the corrections. Since these corrections show
non-decoupling effects, we analyze the radiative effects induced by a heavy
squark sector into the lepton-slepton-chargino/neutralino couplings. We
conclude that some knowledge of the heavy sector is needed in order to provide
a sufficiently precise prediction for slepton observables at an $e^+e^-$ Linear
Collider.


title: Some results on the distinction of Higgs boson models

abstract:
  We present results on the analysis of the ratio of branching ratios
$R=BR(H->b\bar{b})/BR(H->\tau^+\tau^-)$ of Higgs boson decays as a discriminant
quantity between supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric models. A detailed
analysis in the effective Lagrangian approach shows how one could discriminate
between models at the Large Hadron Collider and the $e^+e^-$ Linear Collider at
500 GeV center of mass energy.


title: Interpreting CP Asymmetries in B->pi+ pi- Decays

abstract:
  We discuss methods used to interpret the measurements of CP-asymmetry in
B->pi+pi- within the framework of the Standard Model. Interpretations using
various theoretical inputs are given, ranging from the rather general, yet
unpredictive, properties based on strong isospin symmetry to highly predictive
calculations using QCD Factorization. The calculations are performed using the
software package CKMFitter and a frequentist method, Rfit.


title: K -> pi nu nu-bar decays and CKM fits

abstract:
  After a brief introduction to the so-called flavour problem, we discuss the
role of K -> pi nu nu-bar decays in shedding new light on this issue. In
particular, we review the theoretical uncertainties in predicting B(K -> pi nu
nu-bar) within the SM, the sensitivity of these observables to New Physics
scenarios, and the status of their experimental determination.


title: Living on a brane

abstract:
  We briefly review the distinctive signals of brane world models with low
tension. We pay special attention to the brane fluctuations (branons), whose
phenomenological consequences could be important both in high energy particle
physics experiments and in astrophysical and cosmological observations.


title: The Neutrino Mass Matrix - New Developments

abstract:
  With the recent experimental advance in our precise knowledge of the neutrino
oscillation parameters, the correct form of the 3 X 3 neutrino mass matrix is
now approximately known. I discuss how this may be obtained from symmetry
principles, using as examples the finite groups A_4 and Z_4, predicting as a
result three nearly degenerate Majorana neutrino masses in the 0.2 eV range.


title: The scalar sector in an extended electroweak gauge symmetry model

abstract:
  The scalar sector of the linear formulation of the degenerate BESS model is
analyzed. The model predicts two additional scalar states which mix with the SM
Higgs. As a consequence the properties of the SM Higgs are modified and Higgs
precision measurements can constrain the mixing angle.
  One of the two additional Higgses has no coupling to fermions and suppressed
couplings to ordinary gauge bosons, therefore its detection is difficult. The
production of the other two Higgses at future e+e- linear colliders in the
Higgstrahlung and fusion channels is investigated.


title:
Recent progress on the light meson resonance description from unitarized
  Chiral Perturbation Theory and large Nc

abstract:
  We present a brief account of the developments in the description of light
meson resonances using unitarized extensions of the Chiral Perturbation Theory
series, both in energy and temperature. In particular, we describe how these
methods have been recently shown to describe simultaneously the low energy and
resonance regions of meson-meson scattering. This approach could be of
relevance to understand the light scalar mesons since it provides a formalism
that respects chiral symmetry and unitarity and is able to generate resonant
states without any a priori theoretical bias toward their existence,
classification or spectroscopic nature. We will also review how this approach
is also able to describe the thermal evolution of the $\rho$ and $\sigma$
mesons. In addition we review their extensions to higher orders, the most
recent determination of the resonance pole properties, as well as their
behavior in the large $N_c$ limit, which could be of relevance to understand
their spectroscopic nature.


title:
Interpretation of the Theta+ as an isotensor pentaquark with weakly
  decaying partners

abstract:
  The Theta+(1540), recently observed at LEPS, DIANA and CLAS, is hypothesized
to be an isotensor resonance. This implies the existence of a multiplet where
the Theta++, Theta+ and Theta0 have isospin-violating strong decays, and the
Theta+++ and Theta- have weak decays and so are long-lived. Production
mechanisms for these states are discussed. The J^P assignment of the Theta is
most likely 1/2^- or 3/2^-.


title: Z' studies at the LHC: an update

abstract:
  We reanalyse the potential of the LHC to discover new $Z'$ gauge bosons and
to discriminate between various theoretical models. Using a fast LHC detector
simulation, we have investigated how well the characteristics of $Z'$ bosons
from different models can be measured. For this analysis we have combined the
information coming from the cross section measurement, which provides also the
$Z'$ mass and total width, the forward-backward charge asymmetries on- and
off-peak, and the $Z'$ rapidity distribution, which is sensitive to its $u
\bar{u}$ and $d \bar{d}$ couplings. We confirm that new $Z'$ bosons can be
observed in the process $pp \to Z' \to l^+ l^-$, up to masses of about 5 TeV
for an integrated luminosity of 100 fb$^{-1}$. The off- and on-resonance peak
forward-backward charge asymmetries $A_{\rm FB}^{l}$ show that interesting
statistical accuracies can be obtained up to $Z'$ masses of the order of 2 TeV.
We then show how the different experimental observables allow for a diagnosis
of the $Z'$ boson and the distinction between the various considered models.


title:
One-loop weak corrections to the $b\bar b$ cross section at TeV energy
  hadron colliders

abstract:
  We investigate one-loop weak corrections to the production cross section of
two $b$-jets at Tevatron and Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We establish that
they are small at inclusive level but dominant in exclusive observables that
have a non-trivial dependence on the helicity structure of the hard
subprocesses. Such effects can serve as a test of the Standard Model (SM) and,
conversely, they should be taken into account in future experimental analyses
aiming at extracting possible signals of new physics.


title: CTEQ6 Parton Distributions with Heavy Quark Mass Effects

abstract:
  Previously published CTEQ6 parton distributions adopt the conventional
zero-mass parton scheme; these sets are most appropriate for use with massless
hard-scattering matrix elements commonly found in most physics applications.
For precision observables which are sensitive to charm and bottom quark mass
effects, we provide in this paper an additional CTEQ6HQ parton distribution set
determined in the more general variable flavor number scheme which incorporates
heavy flavor mass effects. The results are obtained by combining these parton
distributions with consistently matched DIS structure functions computed in the
same scheme. We describe the analysis procedure, examine the predominant
features of the new distributions, and compare with previous distributions.


title:
Target Mass Corrections to Electro-Weak Structure Functions and
  Perturbative Neutrino Cross Sections

abstract:
  We provide a complete and consistent framework to include subasymptotic
perturbative as well as mass corrections to the leading twist (tau=2)
evaluation of charged and neutral current weak structure functions and the
perturbative neutrino cross sections. We revisit previous calculations in a
modern language and fill in the gaps that we find missing for a complete and
ready-to-use "NLO xi-scaling" formulary. In particular, as a new result we
formulate the mixing of the partonic and hadronic structure function tensor
basis in the operator approach to deep inelastic scattering. As an underlying
framework we follow the operator product expansion a la Georgi & Politzer that
allows the inclusion of target mass corrections at arbitrary order in QCD and
we provide explicit analytical and numerical results at NLO. We compare this
approach with a simpler collinear parton model approach to xi-scaling. Along
with target mass corrections we include heavy quark mass effects as a
calculable leading twist power suppressed correction. The complete corrections
have been implemented into a Monte Carlo integration program to evaluate
structure functions and/or integrated cross sections. As applications, we
compare the operator approach with the collinear approximation numerically and
we investigate the NLO and mass corrections to observables that are related to
the extraction of the weak mixing angle from a Paschos-Wolfenstein-like
relation in neutrino-iron scattering. We expect that the interpretation of
neutrino scattering events in terms of oscillation physics and electroweak
precision physics will benefit from our results.


title:
Supersymmetric contributions to the CP asymmetry of the B -> phi K_S and
  B -> eta' K_S

abstract:
  We analyse the CP asymmetry of the B -> phi K_S and B -> eta' K_S processes
in general supersymmetric models. We show that chromomagnetic type of operator
may play an important role in accounting for the deviation of the mixing CP
asymmetry between B -> phi K_S and B -> J/psi K_S processes observed by Belle
and BABAR experiments. We also show that due to the different parity in the
final states of these processes, their supersymmetric contributions from the
R-sector have an opposite sign, which naturally explain the large deviation
between their asymmetries.


title: Measuring Flavor Ratios of High-Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos

abstract:
  We discuss the prospects for next generation neutrino telescopes, such as
IceCube, to measure the flavor ratios of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos.
The expected flavor ratios at the sources are
$\phi_{\nu_e}:\phi_{\nu_{\mu}}:\phi_{\nu_{\tau}} = 1:2:0$, and neutrino
oscillations quickly transform these to $1:1:1$. The flavor ratios can be
deduced from the relative rates of showers ($\nu_e$ charged-current, most
$\nu_\tau$ charged-current, and all flavors neutral-current), muon tracks
($\nu_\mu$ charged-current only), and tau lepton lollipops and double-bangs
($\nu_\tau$ charged-current only). The peak sensitivities for these
interactions are at different neutrino energies, but the flavor ratios can be
reliably connected by a reasonable measurement of the spectrum shape.
Measurement of the astrophysical neutrino flavor ratios tests the assumed
production mechanism and also provides a very long baseline test of a number of
exotic scenarios, including neutrino decay, CPT violation, and small-$\delta
m^2$ oscillations to sterile neutrinos.


title:
Local charge compensation from colour preconfinement as a key to the
  dynamics of hadronization

abstract:
  If, as is commonly accepted, the colour-singlet, `preconfined', perturbative
clusters are the primary units of hadronization, then the electric charge is
necessarily compensated locally at the scale of the typical cluster mass. As a
result, the minijet electric charge is suppressed at scales that are greater
than the cluster mass. We hence argue, and demonstrate by means of Monte Carlo
simulations using HERWIG, that the scale at which charge compensation is
violated is close to the mass of the clusters involved in hadronization, and
its measurement would provide a clue to resolving the nature of the dynamics.
We repeat the calculation using PYTHIA and find that the numbers produced by
the two generators are similar. The cluster mass distribution is sensitive to
soft emission that is considered unresolved in the parton shower phase. We
discuss how the description of the splitting of large clusters in terms of
unresolved emission modifies the algorithm of HERWIG, and relate the findings
to the yet unknown underlying nonperturbative mechanism. In particular, we
propose a form of $\alpha_S$ that follows from a power-enhanced beta function,
and discuss how this $\alpha_S$ that governs unresolved emission may be related
to power corrections. Our findings are in agreement with experimental data.


title:
Implications of Spacetime Quantization for the Bahcall-Waxman Neutrino
  Bound

abstract:
  There is growing interest in quantum-spacetime models in which small
departures from Lorentz symmetry are governed by the Planck scale. In
particular, several studies have considered the possibility that these small
violations of Lorentz symmetry may affect various astrophysical observations,
such as the evaluation of the GZK limit for cosmic rays, the interaction of TeV
photons with the Far Infrared Background and the arrival time of photons with
different energies from cosmological sources. We show that the same
Planck-scale departures from Lorentz symmetry that lead to a modification of
the GZK limit which would be consistent with the observations reported by
AGASA, also have significant implications for the evaluation of the
Bahcall-Waxman bound on the flux of high-energy neutrinos produced by
photo-meson interactions in sources of size not much larger than the proton
photo-meson mean free path.


title:
Form factors in the "point form" of relativistic quantum mechanics:
  single and two-particle currents

abstract:
  Electromagnetic and Lorentz-scalar form factors are calculated for a bound
system of two spin-less particles exchanging a zero-mass scalar particle.
Different approaches are considered including solutions of a Bethe-Salpeter
equation, a ``point form'' approach to relativistic quantum mechanics and a
non-relativistic one. The comparison of the Bethe-Salpeter results, which play
the role of an ``experiment'' here, with the ones obtained in ``point form'' in
single-particle approximation, evidences sizable discrepancies, pointing to
large contributions from two-body currents in the latter approach. These ones
are constructed using two constraints: ensuring current conservation and
reproducing the Born amplitude. The two-body currents so obtained are
qualitatively very different from standard ones. Quantitatively, they turn out
not to be sufficient to remedy all the shortcomings of the ``point form'' form
factors evidenced in impulse approximation.


title:
Full order_alpha electroweak and order alpha_s corrections to e^+e^- -->
  t t H

abstract:
  We present the full ${{\cal O}}(\alpha)$ electroweak radiative corrections to
associated Higgs top pair production in $e^+e^-$ collisions. We combine these
results with a new calculation of the full one-loop QCD corrections. The
computation is performed with the help of {\tt GRACE-loop}. We find that the
${{\cal O}}(\alpha)$ correction can be larger than the ${{\cal O}}(\alpha_s)$
corrections around the peak of the cross section especially for a light Higgs
mass. At threshold these corrections are swamped by the QCD corrections which
are enhanced by the gluon Coulomb contribution. We have also subtracted the
complete QED corrections and expressed the genuine weak correction both in the
$\alpha$-scheme and the $G_\mu$-scheme. This reveals that the genuine weak
corrections are not negligible and should be taken into account for a precision
measurement of this cross section and the extraction of the Yukawa $t \bar t H$
coupling.


title: Isospin violation in epsilon'

abstract:
  On the basis of a next-to-leading-order calculation in chiral perturbation
theory, the first complete analysis of isospin breaking for direct CP violation
in K^0 -> 2 pi decays is performed. We find a destructive interference between
three different sources of isospin violation in the CP violation parameter
epsilon'. Within the uncertainties of large-N_c estimates for the low-energy
constants, the isospin violating correction for epsilon' is below 15 %.


title: Evolution Kernels from Splitting Amplitudes

abstract:
  We recalculate the next-to-leading order Altarelli-Parisi kernel using a
method which relates it to the splitting amplitudes describing the collinear
factorization properties of scattering amplitudes. The method breaks up the
calculation of the kernel into individual pieces which have an independent
physical interpretation.


title: B0 -> pi+ pi- pi0 feasibility studies

abstract:
  The potential of constraints on the angle alpha of the Unitarity Triangle
from studies of B0 -> pi+ pi- pi0 decays is reviewed. The experimental inputs
needed for an isospin analysis are starting to become available. The precision
of current measurements is extrapolated to higher luminosities and the
constraints on alpha that could be obtained in the foreseeable future are
discussed. Studies of the sensitivity of a time-dependent Dalitz plot analysis
are briefly reviewed.


title: CP Violation and New Physics in $B_s$ Decays

abstract:
  The $B_s$-meson system is a key element in the $B$-physics programme of
hadron colliders, offering various avenues to explore CP violation and to
search for new physics. One of the most prominent decays is $B_s\to
J/\psi\phi$, the counterpart of $B_d\to J/\psi K_S$, providing a powerful tool
to search for new-physics contributions to $B^0_s$--$\bar{B^0_s}$ mixing.
Another benchmark mode is $B_s\to K^+K^-$, which complements
$B_d\to\pi^+\pi^-$, thereby allowing an extraction of the angle $\gamma$ of the
unitarity triangle that is sensitive to new-physics effects in the QCD penguin
sector. Finally, we discuss new methods to constrain and determine $\gamma$
with the help of $B_s\to D_s^{(\ast)\pm} K^\mp$ decays, which complement
$B_d\to D^{(\ast)\pm}\pi^\mp$ modes. Since these strategies involve ``tree''
decays, the values of $\gamma$ thus extracted exhibit a small sensitivity on
new physics.


title:
An upper bound on the total cross-section for electroweak baryon number
  violation

abstract:
  An upper bound on the total cross-section of s-wave electroweak
instanton/sphaleron induced baryon plus lepton number violating processes is
presented. It is obtained by exploiting a recently reported lower bound on the
corresponding tunneling suppression exponent and by estimating the
pre-exponential factor. We find that the present knowledge about electroweak
baryon plus lepton number violating processes still allows their eventual
observability at the Very Large Hadron Collider, even as pure s-wave
scattering. A possibly observable rate at cosmic ray facilities and neutrino
telescopes is presently not excluded, but requires a substantial contribution
from higher partial waves.


title: Sudakov resummation of multiparton QCD cross sections

abstract:
  We present the general expressions for the resummation, up to next-to-leading
logarithmic accuracy, of Sudakov-type logarithms in processes with an
arbirtrary number of hard-scattering partons. These results document the
formulae used by the authors in several previous phenomenological studies. The
resummation formulae presented here, which are valid for phase-space
factorizable observables, determine the resummation correction in a
process-independent fashion. All process dependence is encoded in the colour
and flavour structure of the leading order and virtual one-loop amplitudes, and
in Sudakov weights associated to the cross section kinematics. We explicitly
illustrate the application to the case of Drell--Yan and prompt-photon
production.


title: On the nature of the finite-temperature transition in QCD

abstract:
  We discuss the nature of the finite-temperature transition in QCD with N_f
massless flavors. Universality arguments show that a continuous (second-order)
transition must be related to a 3-D universality class characterized by a
complex N_f X N_f matrix order parameter and by the symmetry-breaking pattern
[SU(N_f)_L X SU(N_f)_R]/Z(N_f)_V -> SU(N_f)_V/Z(N_f)_V, or [U(N_f)_L X
U(N_f)_R]/U(1)_V -> U(N_f)_V/U(1)_V if the U(1)_A symmetry is effectively
restored at T_c. The existence of any of these universality classes requires
the presence of a stable fixed point in the corresponding 3-D Phi^4 theory with
the expected symmetry-breaking pattern. Otherwise, the transition is of first
order. In order to search for stable fixed points in these Phi^4 theories, we
exploit a 3-D perturbative approach in which physical quantities are expanded
in powers of appropriate renormalized quartic couplings. We compute the
corresponding Callan-Symanzik beta-functions to six loops. We also determine
the large-order behavior to further constrain the analysis. No stable fixed
point is found, except for N_f=2, corresponding to the symmetry-breaking
pattern [SU(2)_L X SU(2)_R]/Z(2)_V -> SU(2)_V/Z(2)_V equivalent to O(4) ->
O(3). Our results confirm and put on a firmer ground earlier analyses performed
close to four dimensions, based on first-order calculations in the framework of
the epsilon=4-d expansion. These results indicate that the finite-temperature
phase transition in QCD is of first order for N_f>2. A continuous transition is
allowed only for N_f=2. But, since the theory with symmetry-breaking pattern
[U(2)_L X U(2)_R]/U(1)_V -> U(2)_V/U(1)_V does not have stable fixed points,
the transition can be continuous only if the effective breaking of the U(1)_A
symmetry is sufficiently large.


title: Cronin Effect and High-p_T Suppression in pA Collisions

abstract:
  We review the predictions of the theory of Color Glass Condensate for gluon
production cross section in p(d)A collisions. We demonstrate that at moderate
energies, when the gluon production cross section can be calculated in the
framework of McLerran-Venugopalan model, it has only partonic level Cronin
effect in it. At higher energies/rapidities corresponding to smaller values of
Bjorken x quantum evolution becomes important. The effect of quantum evolution
at higher energies/rapidities is to introduce suppression of high-p_T gluons
slightly decreasing the Cronin enhancement. At still higher energies/rapidities
quantum evolution leads to suppression of produced gluons at all values of p_T.


title: Scalar meson exchange in phi->P0P0gamma decays

abstract:
  The scalar meson exchange in $\phi\to P^0 P^0\gamma$ decays is discussed in a
chiral invariant framework where the scalar meson poles are incorporated
explicitly. $\phi\to\pi^0\pi^0\gamma$ and $\phi\to\pi^0\eta\gamma$ are in
agreement with recent experimental data and can be used to extract valuable
information on the properties of $f_{0}(980)$ and $a_{0}(980)$ respectively.
$\phi\to K^0\bar K^0\gamma$ is shown not to pose a background problem for
testing CP violation at Da$\Phi$ne. The ratio $\phi\to f_{0}\gamma/a_{0}\gamma$
is also predicted.


title: B-Bbar mixing in unquenched lattice QCD

abstract:
  We present an unquenched lattice calculation for the $B^0-\bar{B}^0$
transition amplitude. The calculation, carried out at an inverse lattice
spacing $1/a$ = 2.22(4) GeV, incorporates two flavors of dynamical quarks
described by the fully $O(a)$-improved Wilson fermion action and heavy quarks
described by NRQCD. A particular attention is paid to the uncertainty that
arises from the chiral extrapolation, especially the effect of pion loops, for
light quarks, which we find could be sizable for the leptonic decay of the
$B_d$ meson, whereas it is small for the $B_s$ meson and the $B$ parameters. We
obtain $f_{B_d}=191(10)(^{+12}_{-22})$ MeV, $f_{B_s}/f_{B_d}=1.13(3)(^{+13}_{-\
2})$, $B_{B_d}(m_b)=0.836(27)(^{+56}_{-62})$,
$B_{B_s}/B_{B_d}=1.017(16)(^{+56}_{-17})$, $\xi=1.14(3)(^{+13}_{- 2})$, where
the first error is statistical, and the second is systematic, including
uncertainties due to chiral extrapolation, finite lattice spacing, heavy quark
expansion and perturbative operator matching.


title: Study of color suppressed modes $B^0 \to \bar D^{(*)0} \eta^{(\prime)} $

abstract:
  The color suppressed modes $B^0 \to \bar D^{(*)0} \eta^{(\prime)} $ are
analyzed in perturbative QCD approach. We find that the dominant contribution
is from the non-factorizable diagrams. The branching ratios calculated in our
approach for $B^0 \to \bar D^{(*)0} \eta $ agree with current experiments. By
neglecting the gluonic contribution, we predict the branching ratios of $B^0
\to \bar D^{(*)0} \eta'$ are at the comparable size of $B^0 \to \bar D^{(*)0}
\pi^0$, but smaller than that of $B^0 \to \bar D^{(*)0} \eta $.


title:
Effects of sterile neutrinos on the ultrahigh-energy cosmic neutrino
  flux

abstract:
  We investigate the effect of sterile neutrinos that are nearly degenerate
with active ones on the flux of ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray neutrinos at earth.
This offers a way to probe neutrino oscillations in the mass-squared range
(10^{-16} eV^2 < \delta m^2 < 10^{-11} eV^2) which maybe hard to detect by any
other means. Taking into account the present experimental uncertainties of the
active-active mixing angles and by allowing any values for the active-sterile
mixing angles we find that the ratio of the electron and muon neutrino fluxes
may change by -40 % to 70 % in comparison with the ratio in the absence of
active-sterile mixing.


title:
Nonfactorizable contributions in anti-B0 -> Ds+ Ds- and anti-Bs0 -> D+
  D- decays

abstract:
  The decay amplitudes for anti-B0 -> Ds+ Ds- and anti-Bs0 -> D+ D- have no
factorizable contributions. We suggest that dominant contributions to the decay
amplitudes arise from two chiral loop contributions and one soft gluon emission
contribution. Then we determine branching ratios BR(anti-B0 -> Ds+ Ds-) ~ 7E-5
and BR(anti-Bs0 -> D+ D-) ~ 1E-3.


title:
The Influence of the Experimental Methodology on the QED Theoretical
  Uncertainties on the Measurement of the W-Boson Mass at LEP

abstract:
  Previous studies of the QED systematic uncertainties on the LEP measurement
of the W-boson mass have used idealized event selections and fitting
procedures. In this paper, the Monte Carlo tandem of KoralW and YFSWW is used
to investigate how the full experimental mass extraction procedure affects
these estimates. It is found that the kinematic fitting used in the
experimental determination of the W-boson mass enhances the sensitivity to QED
corrections involving real photon production. It is concluded that the previous
estimates of the QED theoretical uncertainty on the LEP2 W-mass measurement may
be too small. A simple procedure for approximating the effect of the kinematic
fit at the level of the generated four fermions is proposed. This procedure
would allow previous theoretical studies to be repeated using a much closer
approximation of the real experimental mass extraction method. Finally, the
possibility of setting experimental limits on O(alpha) theoretical
uncertainties using identified e+e- -> W+W-gamma events is discussed.


title: Scalar Form Factors in SU(3) Chiral Perturbation Theory

abstract:
  The scalar form factors for the pions and kaons are calculated in SU(3)
Chiral Perturbation Theory at order $p^6$, in the isospin limit
$m_u=m_d=\hat{m}$. We find in general sizable corrections of
$\mathcal{O}(p^6)$. We use our results to obtain results on the $1/N_c$
suppressed low energy constants $L_4^r$ and $L_6^r$ as well as on two
$\mathcal{O}(p^6)$ low energy constants. We present some numerical results for
masses and decay constants as well.
  We derive a relation for the scalar form factors analogous to Sirlin's
relation for vector form factors.


title: Phenomenology of a SU(2) Triplet Higgs

abstract:
  We study the Renormalization Group evolution of the couplings in a model with
a real SU(2) triplet in the Higgs sector. Insisting that the model remain valid
up to 1 TeV we show that it is possible for there to be no light Higgs bosons
without any otherwise dramatic deviation from the physics of the Standard
Model.


title: Solution of the BFKL Equation at Next-to-leading Order

abstract:
  We solve the Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov equation in the next-to-leading
logarithmic approximation for forward scattering with all conformal spins using
an iterative method.


title:
Quantitative duality and neutral kaon interferometry in CPLEAR
  experiments

abstract:
  A quantitative formulation of Bohr's complementarity principle and
interferometric duality is discussed and applied to the neutral kaon system.
Recent measurements by the CPLEAR Collaboration can be easily interpreted in
terms of ``neutral kaon interferometry'' illustrating and confirming those
basic principles of quantum mechanics.


title: High PT Suppression without Jet Quenching in Au+Au Collisions in NEXUS

abstract:
  Problem of high PT suppression in RHIC data is generally associated to jet
quenching in a dense medium. We recently proposed a new approach to high energy
nuclear scattering, which treats the initial stage of heavy ion collisions in a
sophisticated way, and whose numerical solution is the model NEXUS. Within this
model, there is no jet quenching, but the explicit energy conservation leads to
similar results. RHIC high PT ratio between AA and pp results can be reproduced
for different centrality bins.


title: Global Electroweak Fits and Gauge Coupling Unification

abstract:
  The purpose of this paper is threefold: a) Check if the rather poor Standard
Model (SM) fit to all electroweak data can be improved in its minimal
supersymmetric extension (MSSM); b) Check what constraints present electroweak
data has on the parameter space of the supergravity inspired Constrained MSSM
(CMSSM); c) Check if with the present high precision of the gauge coupling
constants exact gauge coupling unification is still possible. The value of
tan\beta in the CMSSM is constrained to be above 6.5, while the value of the
gaugino masses at the GUT scale has to be above 220 GeV, which corresponds to a
lower limit on the lightest neutralino (chargino) of ca. 95 (175) GeV. It is
shown that the larger values of \alpha_s from R_l and \sinw from A_FB are
consistent with perfect gauge unification. The low \alpha_s value from the
hadronic cross section is correlated with the fact that the number of neutrino
flavours is 2\sigma below the known value of 3 in the SM, which is shown to
correspond to a 3sigma deviation in the hadronic cross section. Lowering
sigma_{had} by 3sigma brings alpha_s up to 0.12 and N_nu up to 3.


title: Supernova pointing with low- and high-energy neutrino detectors

abstract:
  A future galactic SN can be located several hours before the optical
explosion through the MeV-neutrino burst, exploiting the directionality of
$\nu$-$e$-scattering in a water Cherenkov detector such as Super-Kamiokande. We
study the statistical efficiency of different methods for extracting the SN
direction and identify a simple approach that is nearly optimal, yet
independent of the exact SN neutrino spectra. We use this method to quantify
the increase in the pointing accuracy by the addition of gadolinium to water,
which tags neutrons from the inverse beta decay background. We also study the
dependence of the pointing accuracy on neutrino mixing scenarios and initial
spectra. We find that in the ``worst case'' scenario the pointing accuracy is
$8^\circ$ at 95% C.L. in the absence of tagging, which improves to $3^\circ$
with a tagging efficiency of 95%. At a megaton detector, this accuracy can be
as good as $0.6^\circ$. A TeV-neutrino burst is also expected to be emitted
contemporaneously with the SN optical explosion, which may locate the SN to
within a few tenths of a degree at a future km$^2$ high-energy neutrino
telescope. If the SN is not seen in the electromagnetic spectrum, locating it
in the sky through neutrinos is crucial for identifying the Earth matter
effects on SN neutrino oscillations.


title: Neutrino properties from Yukawa structure

abstract:
  We discuss the implications for lepton mixing and CP violation of structure
in the lepton mass matrices, for the case that neutrino masses are generated by
the see-saw mechanism with an hierarchical structure for the Majorana masses.
For a particularly interesting case with enhanced symmetry in which the lepton
Dirac mass matrices are related to those in the quark sector, the CHOOZ angle
is near the present limit and the CP violating phase relevant to thermal
leptogenesis and to $\nu 0 \beta \beta $ decay is near maximal.


title: New Physics and B -> V1 V2 Decays

abstract:
  I discuss several techniques for observing new physics using measurements of
B -> V1 V2 decays. Within the standard model, all CP-violating triple-product
correlations (TP's) involving light vector mesons are expected be very small or
to vanish. However, these TP's can be large in models with new physics (NP). If
a time-dependent angular analysis of B -> V1 V2 can be performed, there are
numerous additional tests for NP in the decay amplitudes. Should a signal for
NP be found, one can place constraints on the NP parameters.


title: Review of Vector Condensation at High Chemical Potential

abstract:
  Here I review vectorial type condensation due to a non zero chemical
potential associated to some of the global conserved charges of the theory. The
phase structure is very rich since three distinct phases exists depending on
the value assumed by one of the zero chemical potential vector self interaction
terms. In a certain limit of the couplings and for large chemical potential the
theory is not stable. This limit corresponds to a gauge type limit often
employed to economically describe the ordinary vector mesons self interactions
in QCD. Our analysis is relevant since it leads to a number of physical
applications not limited to strongly interacting theories at non zero chemical
potential.


title: Comment on the new $D_s^{(*)+} \pi^0$ resonances

abstract:
  We propose an explanation of the new resonances observed in $D_s^{(*)+}
\pi^0$ decays. We suggest that the data can be explained by the mixing of
conventional p-wave excited $D_s^+$ mesons with 4-quark states. The narrow
states observed in $D_s^+ \pi^0$ and $D_s^{*+}\pi^0$ are primarily p-wave
$D_{sJ}^{*}$ states, while the predominantly 4-quark states are shifted above
$D^{(*)} K$ threshold and should be broad. Ranges for the mixing parameter and
mass of the 4-quark state in this scenario are given. Other experimental
consequences are discussed.


title:
Higgs-Boson Production Associated with a Single Bottom Quark in
  Supersymmetric QCD

abstract:
  Due to the enhancement of the couplings between Higgs boson and bottom quarks
in the minimal sypersymmetric standard model (MSSM), the cross section of the
process pp(p\bar{p}) \to h^0b(h^0\bar{b})+X at hadron colliders can be
considerably enhanced. We investigated the production of Higgs boson associated
with a single high-p_T bottom quark via subprocess bg(\bar{b}g) \to
h^0b(h^0\bar{b}) at hadron colliders including the next-to-leading order (NLO)
QCD corrections in MSSM. We find that the NLO QCD correction in the MSSM
reaches 50%-70% at the LHC and 60%-85% at the Fermilab Tevatron in our chosen
parameter space.


title:
Correlations between multiplicities and average transverse momentum in
  the percolating colour strings approach

abstract:
  Long range correlations multiplicity-multiplicity, $p_T^2$-multiplicity and
$p^2 - p^2_T$ are studied in the percolating colour string picture under
different assumptions of the dynamics of string interaction. It is found that
the strength of these correlations is rather insensitive to these assumptions
nor to the geometry of formed fused string clusters. Both
multiplicity-multiplicity and $p_T^2$-multiplicity correlations are found to
scale and depend only on the string density.
  The $p_T^2$-multiplicity correlations, which are absent in the independent
string picture, are found to be of the order of 10% for central heavy ion
collisions and can serve as a clear signature of string fusion. In contrast the
$p^2_T - p^2_T$ correlations turned out to be inversely proportional to the
number of strings and so very small for relaistic collisions.


title:
Gauge checks, consistency of approximation schemes and numerical
  evaluation of realistic scattering amplitudes

abstract:
  We discuss both theoretical tools to verify gauge invariance in numerical
calculations of cross sections and the consistency of approximation schemes
used in realistic calculations. A finite set of Ward Identities for 4 point
scattering amplitudes is determined, that is sufficient to verify the correct
implementation of Feynman rules of a spontaneously broken gauge theory in a
model independent way. These identities have been implemented in the matrix
element generator O'Mega and have been used to verify the implementation of the
complete Standard Model in R_\xi gauge. The consistency of approximation
schemes in tree level calculations is discussed in the last part of this work.
We determine the gauge invariance classes of spontaneously broken gauge
theories, providing a new proof for the formalism of gauge and flavor flips.
The schemes for finite width effects that have been implemented in O'Mega are
reviewed. As a comparison with existing calculations, we study the consistency
of these schemes in the process e^-e^+\to e^- \bar \nu_e u\bar d. The
violations of gauge invariance caused by the introduction of running coupling
constants are analyzed.


title: Neutrino Physics in the Seesaw Model

abstract:
  The seesaw model of heavy and light Majorana neutrinos and its low-energy
effective theory are studied, when the number of heavy neutrinos is equal to or
less than the number of light lepton generations. We establish a general
relationship between the high-energy parameters and the low-energy observables
involving only the light fields. It is shown how low-energy measurements of the
properties of light neutrinos suffice a priori to determine all couplings of
the unobserved heavy neutrinos. CP violation is present in low-energy processes
if seesaw-model leptogenesis creates the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the
universe.


title: On $\gamma\gamma^*$ production of two $\rho^0$ mesons

abstract:
  We present a theoretical estimation for the cross-section of exclusive two
$\rho$-meson production in two photon collision when one of the initial photons
is highly virtual. The compatibility of our analysis with recent experimental
data obtained by the L3 Collaboration at LEP is discussed. We show that these
data prove the scaling behavior of the exclusive production amplitude. They are
thus consistent with a partonic description of the exclusive process
$\gamma\gamma ^*\to\rho ^0\rho ^0$ when $Q^2\sim 2 - 20 {\rm GeV^2}$.


title: Two-Loop QED Bound-State Calculations and Squared Decay Rates

abstract:
  We discuss the epsilon-method as used in various recent QED bound-state
calculations by considering mathematical model examples. Recently obtained
results for higher-order self-energy binding corrections at the two-loop level
are reviewed. Problems associated with the interpretation of squared decay
rates as radiative bound-state energy level shifts are discussed. We briefly
expand on the relation of squared decay rates to nonresonant and radiative
corrections to the Lorentzian line shape, including their dependence on the
experimental process under study.


title: Statistical hadronization and hadronic microcanonical ensemble I

abstract:
  We present a full treatment of the microcanonical ensemble of the ideal
hadron-resonance gas in a quantum-mechanical framework which is appropriate for
the statistical model of hadronization. By using a suitable transition operator
for hadronization we are able to recover the results of the statistical theory,
particularly the expressions of the rates of different channels. Explicit
formulae are obtained for the phase space volume or density of states of the
ideal relativistic gas in quantum statistics which, for large volumes, turn to
a cluster decomposition whose terms beyond the leading one account for
Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac correlations. The problem of the computation of
the microcanonical ensemble and its comparison with the canonical one, which
will be the main subject of a forthcoming paper, is addressed.


title: Cosmological and astrophysical limits on brane fluctuations

abstract:
  We consider a general brane-world model parametrized by the brane tension
scale $f$ and the branon mass $M$. For low tension compared to the fundamental
gravitational scale, we calculate the relic branon abundance and its
contribution to the cosmological dark matter. We compare this result with the
current observational limits on the total and hot dark matter energy densities
and derive the corresponding bounds on $f$ and $M$. Using the nucleosynthesis
bounds on the number of relativistic species, we also set a limit on the number
of light branons in terms of the brane tension. Finally, we estimate the bounds
coming from the energy loss rate in supernovae explosions due to massive branon
emission.


title: $\sigma(600)$ and background in $\pi\pi$ scattering

abstract:
  We suggest a simple analytical description of the S-wave isoscalar $\pi\pi$
amplitude, which corresponds to a joint dressing of the bare resonance and
background contributions. The amplitude describes well the experimental data on
the $\delta^0_0$ phase shift in the energy region below 900 MeV and has two
poles in the $Re s > 0$ half-plane. Besides the well-known pole of
$\sigma(600)$-meson with $Re s \sim m_{\pi}^2$, there exists a more distant
pole with $Re s \sim 0.6 GeV^2$. Our analysis indicates for the dynamical
origin of the $\sigma(600)$ pole, while the second pole should be associated
with lowest $q\bar{q}$ state.


title:
Central exclusive diffractive production as a spin--parity analyser:
  from hadrons to Higgs

abstract:
  We present the general rules for double-Reggeon production of objects with
different spins and parities. The existing experimental information on
resonance production in these central exclusive diffractive processes is
discussed. The absorptive corrections are calculated and found to depend
strongly on the quantum numbers of the produced states. The central exclusive
diffractive production of 0^+ and 0^- Higgs bosons is studied as an
illustrative topical example of the use of the general rules. The signal for
diffractive 0^+ and 0^- Higgs production at the LHC is evaluated using, as an
example, the minimal supersymmetric model, with large tan(beta).


title: T violation in $B \to V V$ Decays in the SM and Beyond

abstract:
  In this talk, we describe T-violating triple-product correlations (TP's) in
$B \to V_1 V_2$ decays. We point out that TP's in the SM are generally tiny. It
is only in a few decays with excited vector mesons in the final state that
measurable TP's may be obtained. On the other hand, TP's in models beyond the
SM can be large, and hence TP correlations are excellent probes of new physics.


title: A Bethe--Salpeter Description of Light Mesons

abstract:
  We present a covariant approach to describe the low--lying scalar,
pseudoscalar, vector and axialvector mesons as quark--antiquark bound
states.This approach is based on an effective interaction modeling of the
non--perturbative structure of the gluon propagator that enters the quark
Schwinger--Dyson and meson Bethe--Salpeter equations. We extract the meson
masses and compute the pion and kaon decay constants. We obtain a
quantitatively correct description for pions, kaons and vector mesons while the
calculated spectra of scalar and axialvector mesons suggest that their
structure is more complex than being quark--antiquark bound states.


title: High-energy elementary amplitudes from quenched and full QCD

abstract:
  Making use of the Stochastic Vacuum Model and the gluon gauge-invariant
two-point correlation function, determined by numerical simulation on the
lattice in both quenched approximation and full QCD, we calculate the
elementary (quark-quark) scattering amplitudes in the momentum transfer space
and at asymptotic energies. Our main conclusions are the following: (1) the
amplitudes decrease monotonically as the momentum transfer increases; (2) the
decreasing is faster when going from quenched approximation to full QCD (with
decreasing quark masses) and this effect is associated with the increase of the
correlation lengths; (3) dynamical fermions generate two components in the
amplitude at small momentum transfer and the transition between them occurs at
momentum transfer near 1 GeV$^2$. We also obtain analytical parametrizations
for the elementary amplitudes, that are suitable for phenomenological uses, and
discuss the effects of extrapolations from the physical regions investigated in
the lattice.


title: Linking the chiral and deconfinement phase transitions

abstract:
  We show that the electric glueball becomes critical at the end-point of the
deconfinement phase transition in finite temperature QCD. Based on this
observation and existing lattice data, we argue that the chiral phase
transition at a zero quark mass and the deconfinement phase transition at an
infinite quark mass are continuously connected by the glueball-sigma mixing.


title: On the mass of the Ds(0+,1+) system

abstract:
  In this note we discuss a determination for the mass of the Ds(0+,1+) system
recently discovered by the BaBar, CLEO II and Belle Collaborations. The value
of the mass is derived by making explicit the prediction obtained in a
quark-meson model prior to the discovery of these states.


title:
QCD perturbation theory at large orders with large renormalization
  scales in the large $\beta_0$ limit

abstract:
  We examine the QCD perturbation series at large orders, for different values
of the 'large $\beta_0$ renormalization scale'. It is found that if we let this
scale grow exponentially with the order, the divergent series can be turned
into an expansion that converges to the Borel integral, with a certain cut off.
In the case of the first IR renormalon at $2/\beta_0$, corresponding to a
dimension four operator in the operator product expansion, this qualitatively
improves the perturbative predictions. Furthermore, our results allow us to
establish formulations of the principle of minimal sensitivity and the fastest
apparent convergence criterion that result in a convergent expansion.


title: Hierarchical Neutrino Mass Matrices, CP violation and Leptogenesis

abstract:
  In this work we study examples of hierarchical neutrino mass matrices
inspired by family symmetries, compatible with experiments on neutrino
oscillations, and for which there is a connection among the low energy CP
violation phase associated to neutrino oscillations, the phases appearing in
the amplitude of neutrinoless double beta decay, and the phases relevant for
leptogenesis. In particular, we determine the predictions from a texture based
on an underlying SU(3) family symmetry together with a GUT symmetry, and a
strong hierarchy for the masses of the heavy right handed Majorana masses. We
also give some examples of inverted hierarchies of neutrino masses, which may
be motivated in the context of U(1) family symmetries.


title: A New QCD Correction to Gauge Boson Decay into Heavy Flavor

abstract:
  We find that, at order alpha_s, the partial width of Z^0 to heavy flavors
receives a power correction from a novel QCD mechanism, which is not suppressed
by inverse powers of M_Z, but only by two unknown O(\lambdaqcd/m) constants.
The hadronic W width also receives a similar correction. These parameters may
be fitted from the global electroweak analysis, and consequently the Standard
Model predictions of various electroweak observables will be updated. This new
mechanism is of no help to reconcile the discrepancy in b forward-backward
asymmetry. We also point out the implication of this mechanism to heavy flavor
production in other collider experiments.


title: Excited nucleons with chirally improved fermions

abstract:
  We study positive and negative parity nucleons on the lattice using the
chirally improved lattice Dirac operator. Our analysis is based on a set of
three operators chi_i with the nucleon quantum numbers but in different
representations of the chiral group and with different diquark content. We use
a variational method to separate ground state and excited states and determine
the mixing coefficients for the optimal nucleon operators in terms of the
chi_i. We clearly identify the negative parity resonances N(1535) and N(1650)
and their masses agree well with experimental data. The mass of the observed
excited positive parity state is too high to be interpreted as the Roper state.
Our results for the mixing coefficients indicate that chiral symmetry is
important for N(1535) and N(1650) states. We confront our data for the mixing
coefficients with quark models and provide insights into the physics of the
nucleon system and the nature of strong decays.


title: Hard Loops, Soft Loops, and High Density Effective Field Theory

abstract:
  We study several issues related to the use of effective field theories in QCD
at large baryon density. We show that the power counting is complicated by the
appearance of two scales inside loop integrals. Hard dense loops involve the
large scale $\mu^2$ and lead to phenomena such as screening and damping at the
scale $g\mu$. Soft loops only involve small scales and lead to superfluidity
and non-Fermi liquid behavior at exponentially small scales. Four-fermion
operators in the effective theory are suppressed by powers of $1/\mu$, but they
get enhanced by hard loops. As a consequence their contribution to the pairing
gap is only suppressed by powers of the coupling constant, and not powers of
$1/\mu$. We determine the coefficients of four-fermion operators in the
effective theory by matching quark-quark scattering amplitudes. Finally, we
introduce a perturbative scheme for computing corrections to the gap parameter
in the superfluid phase


title: Search of $D^{*}_{sJ}$ mesons in $B$ meson decays

abstract:
  We propose that the search of the $B\to D^{*}_{sJ}M$ decays, $M=D$, $\pi$ and
$K$, can discriminate the different theoretical postulations for the nature of
the recently observed $D^{*}_{sJ}$ mesons. The ratio of the branching ratios
$B(B\to D^{*}_{sJ}M)/B(B\to D^{(*)}_{s}M)\approx 1$ (0.1) supports that the
$D^{*}_{sJ}$ mesons are quark-antiquark (multi-quark) bound states. The Belle
measurement of the $B\to D^{*}_{sJ}D$ branching ratios seems to indicate an
unconventional picture.


title: The Bootstrap Conditions for the Gluon Reggeization

abstract:
  Compatibility of gluon Reggeization with s-channel unitarity requires the
vertices of the Reggeon interactions to satisfy a series of bootstrap
conditions. In order to derive, in the next-to-leading order (NLO), conditions
related to the gluon production amplitudes, we calculate the s-channel
discontinuities of these amplitudes and compare them with those required by the
Reggeization. It turns out that these conditions include the so called strong
bootstrap conditions for the kernel and for the impact factors of scattering
particles, which were proposed earlier without derivation, and recently were
proved to be satisfied. Besides this, there is a new bootstrap condition, which
relates a number of Reggeon vertices and the gluon trajectory.


title: Light cone nucleon wave function in the quark-soliton model

abstract:
  The light-cone wave function of the nucleon is calculated in the limit
  N_c -> infinity in the quark-soliton model inspired by the theory of the
instanton vacuum of QCD. The technique of the finite time evolution operator is
used in order to derive expressions for all components of the Fock vector
describing the nucleon in the infinite momentum frame. It is shown that nucleon
wave function for large N_c can be expressed in terms of the wave function of
the discrete level in the self-consistent meson field and light cone wave
functions of 1,2, etc mesons. The 3-quark components of the nucleon and
Delta-resonance are estimated. Wave function of the nucleon appears to be
positive in the whole region of x and it has rather small asymmetry. It differs
strongly both from Chernyak-Zhitnitsky wave function and the asymptotic one.
Large momentum transfer asymptotic of the electromagnetic and axial form
factors is discussed.


title:
A Micro-Canonical Description of Hadron Production in Proton-Proton
  Collisions

abstract:
  A micro-canonical treatment is used to study particle production in pp
collisions. First this micro-canonical treatment is compared to some canonical
ones. Then proton, antiproton and pion 4(\pi) multiplicities from proton-proton
collisions at various center of mass energies are used to fix the
micro-canonical parameters (E) and (V). The dependences of the micro-canonical
parameters on the collision energy are parameterised for the further study of
pp reactions with this micro-canonical treatment.


title:
Detection of the neutral MSSM Higgs bosons in the intense-coupling
  regime at the LHC

abstract:
  We analyse the prospects to detect at the LHC the neutral Higgs particles of
the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, when the masses of the two CP-even
$h,H$ and of the CP-odd $A$ boson are close to one another, and the value of
$\tb$ is large. In this "intense-coupling regime", the Higgs bosons have
strongly enhanced couplings to isospin down-type fermions and large total decay
widths, so that the $\gamma \gamma, WW^*$ and $ZZ^*$ decay modes of the three
Higgs bosons are strongly suppressed. We advocate the use of the decays into
muon pairs, $h,H,A \to \mu^+ \mu^-$, to resolve the three Higgs boson peaks:
although the branching ratios are small, ${\cal O}(10^{4})$, the resolution on
muons is good enough to allow for their detection, if the mass splitting is
large enough. Using an event generator analysis and a fast detector simulation,
we show that only the process $pp \to b\bar{b} \mu^+ \mu^-$, when at least one
of the $b$-quarks is detected, is viable.