Radiative Penguin Decays at the B Factories
The flavor-changing neutral current transitions b → s and b → d cannot proceed at the tree level in the Standard Model (SM). Radiative decays such as B → Xsγ , B → Xdγ and B → Xsll hence proceed primarily via one-loop diagrams known as penguin and box diagrams. Because of this, these processes are rare in the SM, with branching ratios on the order of 10 to 10. However, for the same reason, these channels are very sensitive to new physics beyond the SM. In the past few years, the B Factory detectors, Belle at the KEKB collider at KEK, Japan and BABAR at the PEP-II collider at SLAC, U.S.A., have recorded a total of more than 0.9 ab of data, making it possible to study these decays extensively. Both experiments benefit from high-granularity electromagnetic calorimetry with excellent angular and energy resolution (∼ 3% for 1 GeVphotons), silicon vertex detectors providing position resolution on the order of 100 μmalong the beam axis and K/π separation for momenta up to 3-4 GeV. Details of the detectors can be found in references [1]. The relevant theoretical framework for all the decays reviewed in this paper is the operator product expansion (OPE) [2], with which the heavy particles (the gauge bosons and the top quark in the SM) are integrated out to obtain an effective low-energy theory with five quarks. The long-distance contributions are captured in operator matrix elements, whereas the short-distance physics is described by the effective coupling constants, known as Wilson coefficients. Physics beyond the SM can manifest in new operators, or in vastly different values for the Wilson coefficients of the existing operators, compared to the SM predictions. The OPE framework provides parton-level predictions, so the connection to the experimental observables require further non-perturbative corrections. Form factors, calculations of which introduce significant theoretical uncertainties, are needed to study exclusive final states (B → K γ , B → Kll , etc.). On the other hand, for inclusive decays, heavy-quark expansion (HQE) and quark-hadron duality keep nonperturbative corrections under control. This allows more direct interpretations of the measurements of the inclusive decay rates. However, exclusive decays, being experimentally cleaner, are observed earlier and measured with better precision. Ratios of exclusivedecay observables, in which the form-factor corrections partially or completely cancel, can also provide complimentary information to that obtained from inclusive decays.
Measurement of Branching Fractions and Mass Spectra of B→Kππγ
B. Aubert, R. Barate, D. Boutigny, F. Couderc, Y. Karyotakis, J. P. Lees, V. Poireau, V. Tisserand, A. Zghiche, E. Grauges, A. Palano, M. Pappagallo, A. Pompili, J. C. Chen, N. D. Qi, G. Rong, P. Wang, Y. S. Zhu, G. Eigen, I. Ofte, B. Stugu, G. S. Abrams, M. Battaglia, A. B. Breon, D. N. Brown, J. Button-Shafer, R. N. Cahn, E. Charles, C. T. Day, M. S. Gill, A. V. Gritsan, Y. Groysman, R. G. Jacobsen, R. W. Kadel, J. Kadyk, L. T. Kerth, Yu. G. Kolomensky, G. Kukartsev, G. Lynch, L. M. Mir, P. J. Oddone, T. J. Orimoto, M. Pripstein, N. A. Roe, M. T. Ronan, W. A. Wenzel, M. Barrett, K. E. Ford, T. J. Harrison, A. J. Hart, C. M. Hawkes, S. E. Morgan, A. T. Watson, M. Fritsch, K. Goetzen, T. Held, H. Koch, B. Lewandowski, M. Pelizaeus, K. Peters, T. Schroeder, M. Steinke, J. T. Boyd, J. P. Burke, N. Chevalier, W. N. Cottingham, M. P. Kelly, T. Cuhadar-Donszelmann, B. G. Fulsom, C. Hearty, N. S. Knecht, T. S. Mattison, J. A. McKenna, A. Khan, P. Kyberd, M. Saleem, L. Teodorescu, A. E. Blinov, V. E. Blinov, A. D. Bukin, V. P. Druzhinin, V. B. Golubev, E. A. Kravchenko, A. P. Onuchin, S. I. Serednyakov, Yu. I. Skovpen, E. P. Solodov, A. N. Yushkov, D. Best, M. Bondioli, M. Bruinsma, M. Chao, I. Eschrich, D. Kirkby, A. J. Lankford, M. Mandelkern, R. K. Mommsen, W. Roethel, D. P. Stoker, C. Buchanan, B. L. Hartfiel, S. D. Foulkes, J. W. Gary, O. Long, B. C. Shen, K. Wang, L. Zhang, D. del Re, H. K. Hadavand, E. J. Hill, D. B. MacFarlane, H. P. Paar, S. Rahatlou, V. Sharma, J. W. Berryhill, C. Campagnari, A. Cunha, B. Dahmes, T. M. Hong, M. A. Mazur, J. D. Richman, W. Verkerke, T. W. Beck, A. M. Eisner, C. J. Flacco, C. A. Heusch, J. Kroseberg, W. S. Lockman, G. Nesom, T. Schalk, B. A. Schumm, A. Seiden, P. Spradlin, D. C. Williams, M. G. Wilson, J. Albert, E. Chen, G. P. Dubois-Felsmann, A. Dvoretskii, D. G. Hitlin, I. Narsky, T. Piatenko, F. C. Porter, A. Ryd, A. Samuel, R. Andreassen, S. Jayatilleke, G. Mancinelli, B. T. Meadows, M. D. Sokoloff, F. Blanc, P. Bloom, S. Chen, W. T. Ford, U. Nauenberg, A. Olivas, P. Rankin, W. O. Ruddick, J. G. Smith, K. A. Ulmer, S. R. Wagner, J. Zhang, A. Chen, E. A. Eckhart, A. Soffer, W. H. Toki, R. J. Wilson, Q. Zeng, D. Altenburg, E. Feltresi, A. Hauke, B. Spaan, T. Brandt, J. Brose, M. Dickopp, V. Klose, H. M. Lacker, R. Nogowski, S. Otto, A. Petzold, G. Schott, J. Schubert, K. R. Schubert, R. Schwierz, J. E. Sundermann, D. Bernard, G. R. Bonneaud, P. Grenier, S. Schrenk, Ch. Thiebaux, G. Vasileiadis, M. Verderi, D. J. Bard, P. J. Clark, W. Gradl, F. Muheim, S. Playfer, Y. Xie, M. Andreotti, V. Azzolini, D. Bettoni, C. Bozzi, R. Calabrese, G. Cibinetto, E. Luppi, M. Negrini, L. Piemontese, F. Anulli, R. Baldini-Ferroli, A. Calcaterra, R. de Sangro, G. Finocchiaro, P. Patteri, I. M. Peruzzi,* M. Piccolo, A. Zallo, A. Buzzo, R. Capra, R. Contri, M. Lo Vetere, M. Macri, M. R. Monge, S. Passaggio, C. Patrignani, E. Robutti, A. Santroni, S. Tosi, S. Bailey, G. Brandenburg, K. S. Chaisanguanthum, M. Morii, E. Won, J. Wu, R. S. Dubitzky, U. Langenegger, J. Marks, S. Schenk, U. Uwer, W. Bhimji, D. A. Bowerman, P. D. Dauncey, U. Egede, R. L. Flack, J. R. Gaillard, G. W. Morton, J. A. Nash, M. B. Nikolich, G. P. Taylor, W. P. Vazquez, M. J. Charles, W. F. Mader, U. Mallik, A. K. Mohapatra, J. Cochran, H. B. Crawley, V. Eyges, W. T. Meyer, S. Prell, E. I. Rosenberg, A. E. Rubin, J. Yi, N. Arnaud, M. Davier, X. Giroux, G. Grosdidier, A. Höcker, F. Le Diberder, V. Lepeltier, A. M. Lutz, A. Oyanguren, T. C. Petersen, M. Pierini, S. Plaszczynski, S. Rodier, P. Roudeau, M. H. Schune, A. Stocchi, G. Wormser, C. H. Cheng, D. J. Lange, M. C. Simani, D. M. Wright, A. J. Bevan, C. A. Chavez, J. P. Coleman, I. J. Forster, J. R. Fry, E. Gabathuler, R. Gamet, K. A. George, D. E. Hutchcroft, R. J. Parry, D. J. Payne, K. C. Schofield, C. Touramanis, C. M. Cormack, F. Di Lodovico, R. Sacco, C. L. Brown, G. Cowan, H. U. Flaecher, M. G. Green, D. A. Hopkins, P. S. Jackson, T. R. McMahon, S. 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Hufnagel, PRL 98, 211804 (2007) P H Y S I C A L R E V I E W L E T T E R S week ending 25 MAY 2007
Control of the homopause level
Abstract This paper reviews the hypothesis that internal gravity wave breaking in the factor responsible for upper atmosphere turbulence generation and control of the number density at the homopause level. Available data from Mars and Earth support the hypothesis, originally introduced by Lindzen, that breaking thermal tides are responsible for the necessary turbulence. The lowest-order, equatorially trapped, westward-propagating diurnal tidal mode is the primary cause on the Earth, and lower-order westward-propagating semidiurnal modes are the primary cause on Mars. The frequencies and vertical wavenumbers of the responsible modes determine the eddy diffusion coefficients; energy density is only indirectly involved by determining which modes can break. A general scale relationship between tidal heating and velocity amplitude can be used to assess the breaking potential of tidal modes, and is used here as the basis for arguing that the number density at the Martian homopause is likely to have been stable over much of geologic time. Difficulties with this approach arise in the cases of Venus and Titan because of their peculiar zonal winds. For Jupiter and Saturn, internal gravity waves generated by nontidal mechanisms probably control the homopause.