Gaussian QCD sum-rules are ideally suited to the study of mixed states of gluonium (glueballs) and quark ($q\bar q$) mesons because of their capability to resolve widely-separated states of comparable strength. The analysis of the Gaussian QCD sum-rules (GSRs) for all possible two-point correlation functions of gluonic and non-strange ($I=0$) quark scalar ($J^{PC}=0^{++}$) currents is discussed. For the non-diagonal sum-rule of gluonic and $q\bar q$ currents we show that perturbative and gluon condensate contributions are chirally suppressed compared to non-perturbative effects of the quark condensate, mixed condensate, and instantons, implying that the mixing of quark mesons and gluonium is of non-perturbative origin. The independent predictions of the masses and relative coupling strengths from the non-diagonal and the two diagonal GSRs are remarkably consistent with a scenario of two states with masses of approximately 1 GeV and 1.4 GeV that couple to significant mixtures of quark and gluonic currents. The mixing is nearly maximal with the heavier mixed state having a slightly larger coupling to gluonic currents than the lighter state.
Gaussian QCD sum-rules are used to analyze all possible two-point correlation functions of scalar gluonic and quark currents. The independent predictions of the masses and relative coupling strengths from the different correlators are remarkably consistent with a scenario of two scalar states that couple to nearly-maximal mixtures of quark and gluonic currents.
Gaussian sum-rules, which are related to a two-parameter Gaussian-weighted integral of a hadronic spectral function, are able to examine the possibility that more than one resonance makes a significant contribution to the spectral function. The Gaussian sum-rules, including instanton effects, for scalar gluonic and non-strange scalar quark currents clearly indicate a distribution of the resonance strength in their respective spectral functions. Furthermore, analysis of a two narrow resonance model leads to excellent agreement between theory and phenomenology in both channels. The scalar quark …
We update the values of the eta-eta' mixing angle and of the eta' gluonium content by fitting our measurement R_phi = BR(phi to eta' gamma)/ BR(phi to eta gamma) together with several vector meson radiative decays to pseudoscalars (V to P gamma), pseudoscalar mesons radiative decays to vectors (P to V gamma) and the eta' to gamma gamma, pi^0 to gamma gamma widths. From the fit we extract a gluonium fraction of Z^2_G = 0.12 +- 0.04, the pseudoscalar mixing angle psi_P = (40.4 +- 0.6) degree and the phi-omega mixing angle psi_V = (3.32 +- 0.09) degree. Z^2_G and psi_P are fairly consistent with …
Verifying the existence of bound states of gluons and distinguishing them from conventional quark-antiquark, hybrid or tetraquark states has remained a key problem in QCD. We show that QCD counting rules for the power-law fall-off of production cross sections at high momentum transfer can be used to distinguish gluonium states from conventional hadrons. The valence two-gluon contribution to a 0^+ gluonium bound state has L=0 and thus twist (dimension minus spin of their minimum interpolating operators) tau=2. The competing twist assignments for scalar f_0 mesons have twist tau = 3 for the vale…
The empirical identification of bound states of gluons has remained a central goal of hadron spectroscopy. We suggest an experimentally challenging, but model--independent way to assess which zero charge, isospin-zero mesons have a large gluonium light-front wavefunction component in the quark and gluon Fock space of QCD. Our method exploits QCD counting rules which relate the power-law fall-off of production amplitudes at high momentum transfer to the meson's twist (dimension minus spin of its minimum interpolating operators). Scalar $0^+$ glueballs composed of two valence gluons with zero in…
On the basis of the decay couplings f_0 -> ππ, K\bar K, ηη, ηη', which had been found before, in the study of analytical (IJ^{PC}=00^{++})-amplitude in the mass range 450-1900 MeV, we analyse the quark-gluonium content of resonances f_0(980), f_0(1300), f_0(1500), f_0(1750) and the broad state f_0(1420 ^{+ 150}_{-70}). The K-matrix technique used in the analysis makes it possible to evaluate the quark-gluonium content both for the states with switched-off decay channels (bare states, f^{bare}_0) and the real resonances. We observe significant change of the quark-gluonium composition in the evo…
We extract the K+K- couplings of the isoscalar scalar mesons sigma/f_0(600) and f_0(980) from pi pi to pi pi / K K scatterings and found: |g_{sigma K+K-}|/ |g_{sigma pi+pi-}|= 0.8 and |g_{f_0 K+K-}|/ |g_{f_0 pi+pi-}|= 1.7. These results, together with the tiny "direct" gamma gamma width of the sigma and its large hadronic width, are a strong indication for the gluonium/glueball nature of the sigma-meson, as predicted by QCD spectral sum rules (QSSR) + some low-energy theorems (LET), while some other assignements (pi pi molecule, tetraquark state and ordinary qq meson) do not satisfy simultaneo…
Motivated by several recent data, we test the QCD spectral sum rules (QSSR) predictions based on different proposals (\bar qq, \bar q\bar q qq, and gluonium) for the nature of scalar mesons. In the I=1 and 1/2 channels, the unusual (wrong) splitting between the a_0(980) and κ(900) and the a_0(980) width can be understood from QSSR within a \bar qq assignement. However, none of the \bar qq and \bar q\bar q qq results can explain the large κwidth, which may suggest that it can result from a strong interference with non-resonant backgrounds. In the I=0 channel, QSSR and some low-energy theorems (…
Recently performed investigations of meson spectra allow us to determine the resonance structure for the waves $IJ^{PC}=00^{++}$, $10^{++}$, $02^{++}$, $12^{++}$ = $IJ^P= 1/2 0^+$ in the mass region up to 1900 MeV, thus establishing the meson multiplets $1^3P_0q\bar q$ and $2^3P_0q\bar q$. Experimental data demonstrate that there are five scalar/isoscalar states in this mass region. Four of them are $q\bar q$ states, that is, members of the $1^3P_0q\bar q$ and $2^3P_0q\bar q$ nonets, while the fifth state is an extra one not accomodated by $q \bar q$ systematics; it has the properties of the l…
A quarkonium-gluonium mixing scheme previously developed to describe the characteristic of the pseudoscalar mesons is applied to axial and tensor mesons. The parameters of the model are determined by fitting the eigenvalues of a mass matrix. The corresponding eigenvectors give the proportion of light quarks, strange quarks and glueball in each meson. However the predictions of the model for branching ratios and electromagnetic decays are incompatible with the experimental results. These results suggest the absence of gluonic components in the states of axial and tensor isosinglet mesons analyz…
A phenomenological analysis of radiative $V\to Pγ$ and $P\to Vγ$ decays is performed with the purpose of determining the gluonic content of the $η$ and $η^\prime$ wave functions. Our results show that within our model there is no evidence for a gluonium contribution in the $η$, $Z_η^2=0.00\pm 0.12$, or the $η^\prime$, $Z_{η^\prime}^2=0.04\pm 0.09$. In terms of a mixing angle description this corresponds to $ϕ_P=(41.4\pm 1.3)^\circ$ and $|ϕ_{η^\prime G}|=(12\pm 13)^\circ$. In addition, the $η$-$η^\prime$ mixing angle is found to be $ϕ_P=(41.5\pm 1.2)^\circ$ if we don't allow for a gluonium comp…
The $η$-$η^\prime$ pseudoscalar mixing angle and the gluonium content of the $η^\prime$ meson are deduced from an updated phenomenological analysis of $J/ψ$ decays into a vector and a pseudoscalar meson. In absence of gluonium, the value of the mixing angle in the quark-flavour basis is found to be $ϕ_P=(40.7\pm 2.3)^\circ$. In presence of gluonium, the values for the mixing angle and the gluonic content of the $η^\prime$ wave function are $ϕ_P=(44.6\pm 4.4)^\circ$ and $Z^2_{η^\prime}=0.29^{+0.18}_{-0.26}$, respectively. The newly reported values of $B(J/ψ\toρπ)$ by the BABAR and BES Collabora…
This compact review about gluonium focuses on a slate of theoretical efforts; among the many standing works, I have selected several that are meant to assist in the identification, among ordinary mesons, of the few Yang-Mills glueball configurations that populate the energy region below 3 GeV. This includes $J/ψ$ radiative and vector-meson decays, studies of scalar meson mixing, of high-energy cross sections via the Pomeron and the odderon, glueball decays, etc. The weight of accumulated evidence seems to support the $f_0(1710)$ as having a large (and the largest) glueball component among the …
We consider a simplified constituent model for relativistic strong-interaction decays of hybrid mesons. The model is constructed using rules of renormalization group procedure for effective particles in light-front quantum field theory, which enables us to introduce low-energy phenomenological parameters. Boost covariance is kinematical and special relativity constraints are reduced to the requirements of rotational symmetry. For a hybrid meson decaying into two mesons through dissociation of a constituent gluon into a quark-anti-quark pair, the simplified constituent model leads to a rotation…
The $η$-$η^\prime$ pseudoscalar mixing angle and the gluonium content of the $η^\prime$ meson are deduced from an updated phenomenological analysis of $V\to Pγ$ and $J/ψ\to VP$ decays. In absence of gluonium, the value of the mixing angle in the quark-flavour basis is found to be $ϕ_P=(41.5\pm 1.2)^\circ$ from $V\to Pγ$ and $ϕ_P=(40.5\pm 2.4)^\circ$ from $J/ψ\to VP$. In presence of gluonium, the values for the mixing angle and the gluonic content of the $η^\prime$ wave function are $ϕ_P=(41.4\pm 1.3)^\circ$ and $Z^2_{η^\prime}=0.04\pm 0.09$ from $V\to Pγ$ and $ϕ_P=(44.5\pm 4.3)^\circ$ and $Z^2…
We compute the masses and decay widths of gluonia using QCD spectral sum rules and low-energy theorems. In the scalar sector, one finds a gluonium having a mass $M_G=(1.5\pm 0.2)$ GeV, which decays mainly into the $U(1)_A$ channels $ηη'$ and 4$π^0$. However, for a consistency of the whole approach, one needs broad-low mass gluonia (the $σ$ and its radial excitation), which couple strongly to the quark degrees of freedom similarly to the $η'$ of the $U(1)_A$ sector. Combining these results with the ones for the $\bar qq$ quarkonia, we present maximal quark-gluonium mixing schemes, which can pro…
The analysis of the experimental data of Crystal Barrel Collaboration on the p anti-p annihilation in flight with the production of mesons in the final state resulted in a discovery of a large number of mesons over the region 1900-2400 MeV, thus allowing us to systematize quark-antiquark states in the (n,M^2) and (J,M^2) planes, where n and J are radial quantum number and spin of the meson with the mass M. The data point to meson trajectories in these planes being approximately linear, with a universal slope. The sector of scalar mesons is discussed in more detail, where, on the basis of the r…
The measurements of reactions $π^- p_\uparrow \to π^- π^+ n$ at 17.2 GeV/c and $π^+ n_\uparrow \to π^+ π^- p$ at 5.98 and 11.85 GeV/c made at CERN with polarized targets provide a model-independent and solution-independent evidence for a narrow scalar state sigma(750). The original chi^2 minimization method and the recent Monte Carlo method for amplitude analysis of data at 17.2 GeV/c are in excellent agreement. Both methods find that the mass distribution of the measured amplitude $|\overline S |^2Σ$ with recoil transversity ``up'' resonates near 750 MeV while the amplitude $|S|^2Σ$ with reco…
The analysis of the experimental data of Crystal Barrel Collaboration on the p anti-p annihilation in flight with the production of mesons in the final state resulted in a discovery of a large number of mesons over the region 1900-2400 MeV, thus allowing us to systematize quark-antiquark states in the (n,M^2) and (J,M^2) planes, where n and J are radial quantum number and spin of the meson with the mass M. The data point to meson trajectories in these planes being approximately linear, with a universal slope. Basing on these data and results of the recent K-matrix analysis a nonet classificati…
The $η$-$η^\prime$ pseudoscalar mixing angle and the gluonium content of the $η^\prime$ meson are deduced from an updated phenomenological analysis of $J/ψ$ decays into a vector and a pseudoscalar meson. The values for the mixing angle and the gluonic content of the $η^\prime$ wave function are $ϕ_P=(44.5\pm 4.3)^\circ$ and $Z^2_{η^\prime}=0.28\pm 0.21$, respectively.
Basing on the latest results of the PNPI (Gatchina) and QM&W College (London) groups, I discuss systematics of the IJ^{PC} q anti-q states in terms of trajectories on the (n,M^2) plane, where n is the radial quantum number and M is its mass. In the scalar sector, which is the most interesting because of the presence of extra states with respect to the q anti-q systematics, I discuss: 1) the results of the K-matrix analysis of the spectra pi-pi, pi-pi-pi-pi, K anti-K, eta-eta, eta-eta', pi-eta and characteristics of the resonances in the scalar sector, 2) q anti-q nonet classification of scalar…
Based on the mechanism of neutral meson mixing, we predict the branching fraction of the semileptonic decay of $D_s^+\to π^0 \ell^+ ν_\ell$ ($\ell=e$, $μ$) using recently measured branching fraction of $D_s^+\to ηe^+ν_e$ by BESIII experiment . We also give a formula that can describe the neutral meson mixing of $π^0$, $η$, $η'$ and a pseudoscalar gluonium $G$ in a unified way. The predicted branching fraction of $D_s^+\toπ^0 e^+ν_e$ decay is $\mathcal{B}(D_s^+\toπ^0 e^+ν_e)=(2.65\pm 0.38)\times 10^{-5}$. It is important to search for the decay $D_s^+\to π^0 \ell^+ ν_\ell$ in experiment, in ord…
For hadronic two-body decays of charmed mesons involving $η$ or $η'$, resonance-induced final-state interactions (FSI) that mimic the W-exchange or the W-annihilation topology can play an essential role. In particular, the decays $D^0\to\bar K^0η'$ and $D^+\toπ^+η$, which are largely suppressed in the absence of FSI, are enhanced dramatically by resonant FSI. It is stressed that the effect of resonant FSI is negligible for $ρ^+(η,η')$ final states because of the mismatch of the G parity of $ρ^+(η,η')$ and the J=0, I=1 meson resonance. We argue that a possible gluon-mediated process in which tw…
I present a mini-review of the masses and couplings of the bare (unmixed) light scalar mesons : $\bar qq, (\overline{qq})(qq), (\bar qq)(\bar qq), gg$ from QCD spectral sum rules (QSSR) and low-energy theorems (LET) which we compare with recent lattice calculations when available. Some unbiased comments on the different scenarios are given. The possiblity for the $σ(0.6)$ to be mostly a gluonium/glueball with a huge violation of the OZI rule in its decay is discussed. This review complements and updates the ones presented earlier [1]. Despite some progresses, the internal structure of the ligh…
In the recent note we argued that most of the available positive and negative neutrino oscillation data can be incorporated in a four-neutrino weak interaction model with one physical condition: thorough maximal mixing of the neutrino components in each of the two mass doublets. On the level of CP-invariance an extended Pontecorvo analogy between the neutrino oscillations and the K^0-meson oscillations, which implied maximal violation of the lepton charge conservation in the neutrino mass matrix exclusively, can afford a physical clue to the three data dictated assumptions in a model with thre…
I briefly review the estimate of the gluonia masses, decay and mixings in QCD with massless quarks from QCD spectral sum rules and some low-energy theorems. The data in the $0^{++}$ channel can be explained with some maximal gluonium-quarkonium mixing schemes, which then suggest a large violation of the OZI rule, similar to the case of the $η'$ in the $U(1)_A$ sector.
We summarize the different features of the scalar mesons from QCD spectral sum rule analyses of the two- and three-point functions. The results do not favour the u-bar u + d-bar d interpretation of the broad and low mass sigma (0.6), and the u-bar s resonance nature of the eventually observed kappa(0.9) meson. We also discuss some OZI-violating and classic semileptonic and radiative decay processes which can reveal in a model-independent way the eventual gluon component sigma_B of the sigma. In a meson-gluonium mixing scenario, one also expects an observation of the K K-bar final states from t…
The results of mixing angle measurement for $η'$, $η$ mesons generated in charge exchange reactions with $π^{-}$ and $K^{-}$ beams are preseneted. When the $η'$, $η$ mesons are described in nonstrange(NS)--strange(S) quark basis the $π^{-}$ and $K^{-}$ beams allow to study $|η_{q}>$ and $|η_{s}>$ parts of the meson wave function. The cross section ratio at $t'=0$ (GeV/c)$^{2}$ in the $π^{-}$ beam is $R_π(η'/η)= 0.56 \pm 0.04$, results in mixing angle $ϕ_{P} = (36.8 \pm 1.)^{o} $. For $K^{-}$ beam the ratio is $R_{K}(η'/η)= 1.30 \pm 0.16$. It was found that gluonium content in $η'$ is $\sin^{2}…
For a long time doubts have existed on the existence of the f0(1370) meson as an individual object distinct and separated from the sigma meson. Decays into two charged pions of the f0(1370) are the main source of an isolated structure localized between 1.2 and 1.5 GeV in the two charged pions mass spectrum measured in pp Central Exclusive Production (CEP) at 200 GeV at very low four momentum transfer squared ltl. These data confirm in the two charged pions decay channel the existence of the f0(1370) as an isolated well identified structure that was previously observed in K+K-, KsKs, 4 neutral …
Recent ALEPH/OPAL data on the V-A spectral functions from hadronic tau decays are used for fixing the QCD continuum threshold at which the first and second Weinberg sum rules should be satisfied in the chiral limit, and for predicting the values of the low-energy constants f_π,~m_{π^+}-m_{π^0} and {L}_{10}. Some DMO-like sum rules and the $τ$-total hadronic widths R_{τ,V-A} are also used for extracting the values of the D=6,~8 QCD vacuum condensates and the corresponding (in the chiral limit) electroweak kaon penguin matrix elements Q^{3/2}_{8,7}\ra_{2π},, where a deviation from the vacuum sat…
It is shown that the empirical rule that the masses of the stable mesons and baryons of the gamma-branch are integer multiples of the mass of the pi0 meson with a maximal deviation of 3.3% holds also for the meson and baryon resonances, regardless whether the spin of the particles is 0 or 1/2. It is also shown that the masses of the particles with weak decay are integer multiples of the mass of the charged mesons times a common factor 0.853.
A hadron's multiquark content reflects itself in the quark composition of the interpolator with which it has maximal overlap. The AdS/CFT dictionary translates the anomalous dimension of this interpolator into a mass correction for the corresponding dual mode. Hence such bulk-mass corrections can carry holographic information on multiquark correlations. Two prominent examples are studied by implementing this robust and universal mechanism into AdS/QCD gravity duals. In the baryon sector bulk-mass corrections are used to describe systematic good (i.e. maximally attractive) diquark effects. The …
Decays into two charged pions of the f0(1370) are the main source of an isolated structure localized between 1.2 and 1.5 GeV in the two charged pions mass spectrum measured in pp Central Exclusive Production (CEP) at 200 GeV at very low four momentum transfer ltl by the STAR experiment. These data confirm in the two charged pions decay channel the existence of the f0(1370) as an isolated well identified structure previously observed in K+K-, KsKs, 4 charged pions, two charged and two neutral pions and 4 neutral pions decays measured in antiproton annihilations at rest. The ensemble of these da…
We present preliminary results for various electroweak form factors of pseudo-scalar mesons using the tree-level improved Symanzik gauge action and the maximally twisted mass fermionic action with Nf = 2 dynamical flavors. Our results, obtained for both light and heavy quark masses at a single lattice spacing (a ~ 0.09 fm) and at a single lattice volume (V * T = 24**3 * 48), exhibit a quite remarkable statistical precision thanks to the use of all-to-all quark propagators computed with a stochastic method. Moreover very low values of the four-momentum transfer are achieved by making use of twi…
We study lifetimes of heavy mesons in the 't Hooft model, a large-$N_c$ theory of strong interaction in two-dimensional spacetime. Since this model is solvable, one can evaluate the total decay widths through hadronic amplitudes that are determined unambiguously within the formalism. We investigate quark-hadron duality by numerically comparing the exclusive result and one from the heavy quark expansion, with the contribution of Pauli interference being consistently incorporated. Within certain numerical accuracy, we find that the maximal difference between inclusive and exclusive rates for $τ[…
The meson-cloud model of the nucleon consisting of a system of three valence quarks surrounded by a meson cloud is applied to study the electroweak structure of the proton and neutron. Light-cone wavefunctions are derived for the dressed nucleon as pictured to be part of the time a bare nucleon and part of the time a baryon-meson system. Configurations are considered where the baryon can be a nucleon or a Δand the meson can be a pion as well as a vector meson such as the ρor the ω. An overall good description of the electroweak form factors is obtained. The contribution of the meson cloud is s…
In this paper (second in the series) we study the properties of tree-level binary amplitudes of the infinite-component effective field theory of strong interaction obeying the requirements of quark-hadron duality and maximal analyticity. In contrast to the previous paper, here we derive the results following from less restrictive --- Regge-like --- boundedness conditions. We develop the technique of Cauchy's forms in two variables and show the string-like structure of a theory. Next, we derive the full set of bootstrap constraints for the resonance parameters in (π,K) system. Numerical test sh…
We compare flavour singlet and non-singlet vector mesons from first principles using lattice QCD. With N_f=2 flavours of light quark, this addresses the omega-rho mass difference. Using maximally twisted-mass lattice QCD, we are able for the first time to determine this mass difference precisely and we compare with experiment. We also discuss omega-rho mixing effects arising within QCD through the u-d quark mass difference.
The semileptonic B_c-meson decays into the heavy quarkonia J/ψ(η_c) and a pair of leptons are investigated in the framework of three-point sum rules of QCD and NRQCD. Calculations of analytical expressions for the spectral densities of QCD and NRQCD correlators with account for the Coulomb-like α_s/v terms are presented. The generalized relations due to the spin symmetry of NRQCD for the form factors of B_c\to J/ψ(η_c)lν_l transitions with l denoting one of the leptons e, μor τ, are derived at the recoil momentum close to zero. This allows one to express all NRQCD form factors through a single…
Firstly, we use the recent ALEPH/OPAL data on the V-A spectral functions for fixing the continuum threshold with which the first and second Weinberg sum rules should be satisfied in the chiral limit. Then, we predict the values of the low-energy constants m_{π^+}-m_{π^0}, {L}_{10}, and test the values of the electroweak kaon penguin matrix elements <Q^{3/2}_{8,7}>_{2π} obtained from DMO--like sum rules. Secondly, we use the data on the τ-total hadronic width R_{τ,V/A} for extracting <Q_8^{3/2}_{2π}>, in the {MS}\bar scheme, and propose some new sum rules for < Q_7^{3/2}>_{2π} in the chiral lim…
We use Ward identities of broken scale invariance to infer the amount of scalar glueball--$\bar{q}q$ meson mixing from the ratio of quark and gluon condensates in the QCD vacuum. Assuming dominance by a single scalar state, as suggested by a phase-shift analysis, we find a mixing angle $γ\sim 36^{\circ}$, corresponding to near-maximal mixing of the glueball and $\bar{s}s$ components.
We propose a mechanism that allows for sizeable flavour violation in quark-lepton currents, while suppressing flavour changing neutral currents in quark-quark and lepton-lepton sectors. The mechanism is applied to the recently proposed 4321 renormalizable model, which can accommodate the current experimental anomalies in $B$-meson decays, both in charged and neutral currents, while remaining consistent with all other indirect flavour and electroweak precision measurements and direct searches at high-$p_T$. To support this claim, we present an exhaustive phenomenological survey of this fully ca…
We perform a non-perturbative lattice calculation of the P-wave pion-pion scattering phase in the rho-meson decay channel using two flavors of maximally twisted mass fermions at pion masses ranging from 480 MeV to 290 MeV. Making use of finite-size methods, we evaluate the pion-pion scattering phase in the center-of-mass frame and two moving frames. Applying an effective range formula, we find a good description of our results for the scattering phase as a function of the energy covering the resonance region. This allows us to extract the rho-meson mass and decay width and to study their quark…
We present results from an ongoing computation of masses of $D$ mesons, $D_s$ mesons and charmonium, including both ground states and several parity and angular momentum excitations. We employ 2+1+1 flavours of dynamical maximally twisted mass fermions at three lattice spacings and three $u/d$ quark masses at each lattice spacing. We consider different combinations of valence quark discretizations, with either identical or opposite signs in front of the twisted mass terms. In the end, our setup allows for a good control of different kinds of systematic effects, in particular the quark mass dep…
We present results for the masses of pseudoscalar mesons in twisted mass lattice QCD with a degenerate doublet of u and d quarks and a non-degenerate doublet of s and c quarks in the framework of next-to-leading order chiral perturbation theory, including lattice effects up to O(a^2). The masses depend on the two twist angles for the light and heavy sectors. For maximal twist in both sectors, O(a)-improvement is explicitly exhibited. The mixing of flavour-neutral mesons is also discussed, and results in the literature for the case of degenerate s and c quarks are corrected.
We present the ETMC results for the bag parameters describing the neutral kaon mixing in the Standard Model and beyond and preliminary results for the bag parameters controlling the short distance contributions in the D^0-\bar{D}^0 oscillations. We also present preliminary results for the B_{Bd}, B_{Bs}, B_{Bs}/B_{Bd} and ξ-parameter controlling B^0_-\bar{B}^0 oscillations in the Standard Model employing the so-called ratio method. Using Nf=2 maximally twisted sea quarks and Osterwalder-Seiler valence quarks we achieve both O(a)-improvement and continuum like renormalization pattern. Simulatio…
Motivated by the recent observation of CP violation in the charm sector by LHCb, we study direct CP asymmetries in the standard model (SM) for the singly Cabibbo-suppressed two-body hadronic decays of charmed mesons using the topological-diagram approach. In this approach, the magnitude and the phase of topological weak annihilation amplitudes which arise mainly from final-state rescattering can be extracted from the data. Consequently, direct CP asymmetry $a_{dir}^{\rm (tree)}$ at tree level can be reliably estimated. In general, it lies in the range $10^{-4}<a_{dir}^{\rm (tree)}<10^{-3}$. Sh…
We study two- and three-meson systems composed either of pions or kaons at maximal isospin using Monte Carlo simulations of lattice QCD. Utilizing the stochastic LapH method, we are able to determine hundreds of two- and three-particle energy levels, in nine different momentum frames, with high precision. We fit these levels using the relativistic finite-volume formalism based on a generic effective field theory in order to determine the parameters of the two- and three-particle K-matrices. We find that the statistical precision of our spectra is sufficient to probe not only the dominant $s$-w…
We systematically investigate general forms of mass matrices for three-generation up and down quarks, including asymmetrical ones in generation space. Viable zero matrix elements are explored which are compatible with the current observation of masses and mixing angles, and also with the recent measurement of CP violation in the B-meson system. The simplest form with the maximal number of vanishing matrix elements is found to be almost consistent with the experimental data, but has a scratch that one of the mixing angle is slightly large. At the next-to-minimal level, it is found with a help o…
We derive new QCD sum rules for $B\to D$ and $B\to D^*$ form factors. The underlying correlation functions are expanded near the light-cone in terms of $B$-meson distribution amplitudes defined in HQET, whereas the $c$-quark mass is kept finite. The leading-order contributions of two- and three-particle distribution amplitudes are taken into account. From the resulting light-cone sum rules we calculate all $B\to \Dst $ form factors in the region of small momentum transfer (maximal recoil). In the infinite heavy-quark mass limit the sum rules reduce to a single expression for the Isgur-Wise fun…
We present an analytic expression for the two-loop QCD corrections to the decay process b -> u W^*, where b and u are a massive and massless quark, respectively, while W^* is an off-shell charged weak boson. Since the W-boson can subsequently decay in a lepton anti-neutrino pair, the results of this paper are a first step towards a fully analytic computation of differential distributions for the semileptonic decay of a b-quark. The latter partonic process plays a crucial role in the study of inclusive semileptonic charmless decays of B-mesons. The three independent form factors characterizing …
A method to extract B-physics parameters (b-quark mass and fB, fBs decay constants) from currently available lattice data is presented and tested. The approach is based on the idea of constructing appropriate ratios of heavy-light meson masses and decay constants, respectively, possessing a precisely known static limit, and evaluating them at various pairs of heavy quark masses around the charm. Via a smooth interpolation in the heavy quark mass from the easily accessible charm region to the asymptotic point, B-physics parameters are computed with a few percent (statistical + systematic) error…
In view of the observed strong hierarchy of quark masses, we propose a new description of flavor mixing which is particularly suited for models of quark mass matrices based on flavor symmetries. The necessary and sufficient conditions for CP violation are clarified. The emergence of CP violation is primarily linked to a large phase difference (near 90^{\circ}) in the light quark sector. The unitarity triangle is determined by the mass ratios of the light quarks. We conclude that the unitarity triangle should be close or identical to a rectangular triangle, and CP violation is maximal in this s…
Recent BESIII data indicate a significant rate of the process $e^+e^- \to h_c π^+ π^-$ at the Y(4260) and Y(4360) resonances, implying a substantial breaking of the heavy quark spin symmetry. We consider these resonances within the picture of hadrocharmonium, i.e. of (relatively) compact charmonium embedded in a light quark mesonic excitation. We suggest that the resonances Y(4260) and Y(4360) are a mixture, with mixing close to maximal, of two states of hadrochamonium, one containing a spin-triplet $c \bar c$ pair and the other containing a spin-singlet heavy quark pair. We argue that this mo…
