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In this article we study chiral symmetry breaking for quark matter in a magnetic background, $\bm B$, at finite temperature and quark chemical potential, $\mu$, making use of the Ginzburg-Landau effective action formalism. As a microscopic model to compute the effective action we use the renormalized quark-meson model. Our main goal is to study the evolution of the critical endpoint, ${\cal CP}$, as a function of the magnetic field strength, and investigate on the realization of inverse magnetic catalysis at finite chemical potential. We find that the phase transition at zero chemical potential is always of the second order; for small and intermediate values of $\bm B$, ${\cal CP}$ moves towards small $\mu$, while for larger $\bm B$ it moves towards moderately larger values of $\mu$. Our results are in agreement with the inverse magnetic catalysis scenario at finite chemical potential and not too large values of the magnetic field, while at larger $\bm B$ direct magnetic catalysis sets in., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures

We investigate the three flavor Nambu-Jona Lasinio model of neutral quark matter at zero temperature and finite density, keeping into account the scalar, the pseudoscalar and the Kobayashi-Maskawa-'t Hooft interactions as well as the repulsive vector plus axial-vector interaction terms (vector extended NJL, VENJL in the following). We focus on the effect of the vector interaction on the chiral restoration at finite density in neutral matter. We also study the evolution of the charged pseudoscalar meson energies as a function of the quark chemical potential., Comment: 19 pages, Revtex4. Enlarged discussion of the new kaon excitation at large $mu$, revised Introduction, some reference added. Version to appear on Phys. Rev. D

We elucidate how the color neutrality is harmed in the Polyakov Nambu-Jona Lasinio (PNJL) model at finite density within the adopted mean field approximation. Also we point out how usual assumption about the diagonal form of the Wilson loop may fail in the presence of the diquark condensate on several grounds., Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure. Introduction enlarged, several comments about the adopted mean field approximation and the relation with Elitzur's theorem added. Version to appear on Phys. Rev. D

We study aspects of the pion condensation in two-flavor neutral quark matter using the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model of QCD at finite density. We investigate the role of electric charge neutrality, and explicit symmetry breaking via quark mass, both of which control the onset of the charged pion $(\pi^c)$ condensation. We show that the equality between the electric chemical potential and the in-medium pion mass, $\mu_{e}=M_{\pi^-}$, as a threshold, persists even for a composite pion system in the medium, provided the transition to the pion condensed phase is of the second order. Moreover, we find that the pion condensate in neutral quark matter is extremely fragile to the symmetry breaking effect via a current quark mass $m$, and is ruled out for $m$ larger than the order of 10 keV., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, RevTex4, (v2) title changed, Fig. 1 replaced, fourth section enlarged, references added, version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D, (v3) typos corrected, published version

We study the interplay between the chiral and the deconfinement transitions, both at high temperature and high quark chemical potential, by a non local Nambu-Jona Lasinio model with the Polyakov loop in the mean field approximation and requiring neutrality of the ground state. We consider three forms of the effective potential of the Polyakov loop: two of them with a fixed deconfinement scale, cases I and II, and the third one with a $\mu$ dependent scale, case III. In the cases I and II, at high chemical potential $\mu$ and low temperature $T$ the main contribution to the free energy is due to the Z(3)-neutral three-quark states, mimicking the quarkyonic phase of the large $N_c$ phase diagram. On the other hand in the case III the quarkyonic window is shrunk to a small region. Finally we comment on the relations of these results to lattice studies and on possible common prospects. We also briefly comment on the coexistence of quarkyonic and color superconductive phases., Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, RevTeX4. Some typos corrected, references added

We study how the charge neutrality affects the phase structure of three-flavor PNJL model. We point out that, within the conventional PNJL model at finite density the color neutrality is missing because the Wilson line serves as an external ``colored'' field coupled to dynamical quarks. In this paper we heuristically assume that the model may still be applicable. To get color neutrality one has then to allow non vanishing color chemical potentials. We study how the quark matter phase diagram in $(T,m_s^2/\mu)$-plane is affected by imposing neutrality and by including the Polyakov loop dynamics. Although these two effects are correlated in a nonlinear way, the impact of the Polyakov loop turns out to be significant in the $T$ direction, while imposing neutrality brings a remarkable effect in the $m_s^2/\mu$ direction. In particular, we find a novel unlocking transition, when the temperature is increased, even in the chiral SU(3) limit. We clarify how and why this is possible once the dynamics of the colored Polyakov loop is taken into account. Also we succeed in giving an analytic expression for $T_c$ for the transition from two-flavor pairing (2SC) to unpaired quark matter in the presence of the Polyakov loop., Comment: 11 pages, REVTex4, 10 eps figures; v2: added two notes, added a reference; version to appear in Phys. Rev. D

We study the phase diagram and the pion modes in the electrically neutral two flavor PNJL model. One of the main result of this paper is that when electrical neutrality is required, pions do not condense in the ground state of the model: the isospin chemical potential $\mu_I = -\mu_e/2$ is always smaller than the value required for pion condensation to occur. Moreover we investigate on the pions and $\sigma$ mass spectra. We find that the qualitative behavior of the masses resembles that obtained in the NJL model. We close this paper by studying the intriguing possibility that a bound state with the quantum numbers of the pions can be formed above the chiral phase transition., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, RevTeX4 style. One figure added, role of the bare quark mass clarified, some reference added. To appear on Phys. Rev. D

We study the phase diagram of the three flavor Polyakov-Nambu-Jona Lasinio (PNJL) model and in particular the interplay between chiral symmetry restoration and deconfinement crossover. We compute chiral condensates, quark densities and the Polyakov loop at several values of temperature and chemical potential. Moreover we investigate on the role of the Polyakov loop dynamics in the transition from nuclear matter to quark matter., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX4 style

We consider the Polyakov Nambu Jona Lasinio model with three massless quarks at high density and moderate temperature in the superconductive color flavor locking phase. We compute the critical temperature $T_c$ as a function of the baryonic chemical potential for the phase transition from the superconductive state to the normal phase. We find that $T_c$ is higher by a factor 1.5 -2 in comparison to the model containing no Polyakov loop. We also compute the specific heat $C_v$ near the second order phase transition and we show that the inclusion of the Polyakov loop does not change the value of the critical exponent., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX4 style

We study the bosonic excitations in the favorite cubic three flavor crystalline LOFF phases of QCD. We calculate in the Ginzburg-Landau approximation the masses of the eight pseudo Nambu-Goldstone Bosons (NGB) present in the low energy theory. We also compute the decay constants of the massless NGB Goldstones associated to superfluidity as well as those of the eight pseudo NGB. Differently from the corresponding situation in the Color-Flavor-Locking phase, we find that meson condensation phases are not expected in the present scenario., Comment: 10 pages, RevTeX4 class. Section IIIA enlarged, to appear on Phys. Rev. D

This paper is devoted to the study of some aspects of the instability of two flavor color superconductive quark matter. We find that, beside color condensates, the Goldstone boson related to the breaking of $U(1)_A$ suffers of a velocity instability. We relate this wrong sign problem, which implies the existence of a Goldstone current in the ground state or of gluonic condensation, to the negative squared Meissner mass of the $8^{th}$ gluon in the g2SC phase. Moreover we investigate the Meissner masses of the gluons and the squared velocity of the Goldstone in the multiple plane wave LOFF states, arguing that in such phases both the chromo-magnetic instability and the velocity instability are most probably removed. We also do not expect Higgs instability in such multiple plane wave LOFF. The true vacuum of gapless two flavor superconductors is thus expected to be a multiple plane wave LOFF state., Comment: 16 pages, RevTe3X4 style

We study in the Ginzburg-Landau approximation, the Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phase of QCD with three flavors and one plane wave, including terms of order O(1/mu). We show that the LOFF window is slightly enlarged, and actually splits into two different regions, one characterized by u-s and d-u pairings and the other with d-u pairs only., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

We compute in the Ginzburg-Landau approximation the gluon Meissner masses for the Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phase of QCD with three flavors in the kinematical range where it is energetically favored. We find real Meissner masses and therefore chromomagnetic stability., Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures

We explore, using a Ginzburg-Landau expansion of the free energy, the Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phase of QCD with three flavors, using the NJL four-fermion coupling to mimic gluon interactions. We find that, below the point where the QCD homogeneous superconductive phases should give way to the normal phase, Cooper condensation of the pairs u-s and d-u is possible, but in the form of the inhomogeneous LOFF pairing., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Eq. (20) corrected. As a consequence figures have been modified to show only the solution with parallel total momenta of the us, ud pairs, as the other configurations are suppressed. Main conclusions of the paper are unchanged

We calculate the Meissner masses of gluons in neutral three-flavor color superconducting matter for finite strange quark mass. In the CFL phase the eissner masses are slowly varying function of the strange quark mass. For large strange quark mass, in the so called gCFL phase, the Meissner masses of gluons with colors $a=1,2,3$ and 8 become imaginary, indicating an instability., Comment: New Fig. 1 shows that also the masses of the gluons 3 and 8 are imaginary

We compute, at the first order in the fine structure constant, the parameters of the electromagnetic Lagrangian for the inhomogeneous Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell phase in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and in condensed matter. In particular we compute for QCD with two flavors the dielectric and the magnetic permeability tensors, and for condensed matter superconductors the penetration depth of external magnetic fields., Comment: 12 pages

We present an approximate gap equation for different crystalline structures of the LOFF phase of high density QCD at T=0. This equation is derived by using an effective condensate term obtained by averaging the inhomogeneous condensate over distances of the order of the crystal lattice size. The approximation is expected to work better far off any second order phase transition. As a function of the difference of the chemical potentials of the up and down quarks, $\delta\mu$, we get that the octahedron is energetically favored from $\delta\mu=\Delta_0/\sqrt 2$ to $0.95\Delta_0$, where $\Delta_0$ is the gap for the homogeneous phase, while in the range $0.95\Delta_0-1.32\Delta_0$ the face centered cube prevails. At $\delta\mu=1.32\Delta_0$ a first order phase transition to the normal phase occurs., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

We calculate the specific heats of quasi-particles of two-flavor QCD in its crystalline phases for low temperature. We show that for the different crystalline structures considered here there are gapless modes contributing linearly in temperature to the specific heat. We evaluate also the phonon contributions which are cubic in temperature. These features might be relevant for compact stars with an inner shell in a color superconducting crystalline phase., Comment: LaTex, 13 pages. Final version published on Physics Letters including an ERRATA (to be published)

We study two aspects of the CFL phase of QCD in the NJL approximation. The first one is the issue of the dependence on \mu of the ultraviolet cutoff in the gap equation, which is solved allowing a running coupling constant. The second one is the dependence of the gap on the strange quark mass; using the high density effective theory we perform an expansion in the parameter (m_s/\mu)^2 after checking that its numerical validity is very good already at first order., Comment: LaTeX file, 6 figures

The high density effective theory formalism (HDET) is employed to describe high density QCD with two massive flavors (2SC). The gap equation is derived and explicitly solved for the gap parameter. The parameters associated to the pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson of $U(1)_A$ are evaluated in the limit $\mu\to\infty$ and $m/\mu$ fixed. In particular we find for the velocity of the NG boson the relation $v^2=\sqrt{\mu_1^2-m_1^2}\sqrt{\mu_2^2-m_2^2}/3\mu_1\mu_2$., Comment: Latex file. 14 pages, 2 figures. Some improvement in the presentation. 2 references added. Final version to be published in Physics Letters

The High Density Effective Theory formalism is used to calculate the low energy properties of the phonons and gluons in the Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phase of two-flavor QCD. The effective phonon Lagrangian for the cubic crystal structure, which is favored according to a recent study, depends, at the second order in the derivatives, on three parameters which we calculate in this paper. We also compute for soft momenta the effective lagrangian for the gluons of the unbroken SU(2)_c group, both for a single plane wave structure and for the cube. In both cases the Meissner gluon mass vanishes as in the case of complete isotropy; on the other hand there is a partial Debye screening due to the existence of blocking regions on the Fermi spheres. For the single plane wave structure the gluon dielectric tensor is non isotropic, while it is isotropic for the cubic crystal, in spite of the intrinsic anisotropy of the structure., Comment: 38 pages, 4 figures

The recent study by Bowers and Rajagopal on the possible structures for the QCD crystalline color superconducting phase favors a cubic structure and allows for a first discussion of the QCD dynamics in the crystalline phase. The cubic structure leads to complete breaking of traslation invariance and to three phonon modes. We discuss the expected form of the effective Lagrangian and the phonon dispersion laws assuming the proposed crystal structure. Besides the interest for QCD and the related possible relevance to compact stars these considerations may become useful to atomic systems exhibiting crystalline superfluidity., Comment: Final version to be published on Physics Letters, 16 pages, 2 figures

In the high density low temperature limit, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) exhibits a transition to a phase characterized by color superconductivity and by energy gaps in the fermion spectra. Under specific circumstances the gap parameter has a crystalline pattern, breaking translational and rotational invariance. The corresponding phase is the the crystalline color superconductive phase (or {\it LOFF} phase). In the effective theory the fermions couple to the phonon arising from the breaking of rotation and translation invariance. We compute the parameters of the low energy effective lagrangian describing the motion of the free phonon in the high density medium and derive the phonon dispersion law., Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure, LaTex file. Final version appeared in Phys. Rev. D

The gluon self-energies and dispersion laws in the color superconducting phase of QCD with two massless flavors are calculated using the effective theory near the Fermi surface. These quantities are calculated at zero temperature for all the eight gluons, those of the remaining SU(2) color group and those corresponding to the broken generators. The construction of the effective interaction is completed with the one loop calculation of the three- and four-point gluon interactions., Comment: LaTeX, p 17, 4 figures. Final version to be published in Phys. Lett. B. Several corrections have been done and some point clarified

The TESLA Technical Design Report Part III: Physics at an e+e- Linear Collider, Comment: 192 pages, 131 figures. Some figures have reduced quality. Full quality figures can be obtained from http://tesla.desy.de/tdr. Editors - R.-D. Heuer, D.J. Miller, F. Richard, P.M. Zerwas

We present an effective field theory for high density, low temperature QCD in the crystalline colour superconductive phase (LOFF phase). This interesting phase of QCD is characterized by a gap parameter with a crystalline pattern, breaking traslational and rotational invariance, and could have astrophysical applications. In the effective theory the fermions have a Majorana mass, which, besides colour, breaks translation and rotation symmetries. Fermions couple to the three phonons arising from the breaking of rotation and translation invariance. Integrating out the fermions leads eventually to an effective lagrangian in terms of the phonon fields only, which satisfies an anisotropic dispersion relation., Comment: Latex, 17 pages, Modifications in the effective goldstone boson description

We examine the D_s -> f_0(980) pi amplitude through a constituent quark-meson model, incorporating heavy quark and chiral symmetries, finding a good agreement with the recent E791 data analysis of D_s -> 3pi via f_0(980). The f_0(980) resonance is considered at the moment of production as an s sbar state, later evolving to a superposition of mainly s sbar and K Kbar. The analysis is also extended to the more frequent process D_s -> phi pi., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures

We evaluate several quantities appearing in the effective lagrangian for the color-flavor locked phase of high density QCD using a formalism which exploits the approximate decoupling of fermions with energy negative with respect to the Fermi energy. The effective theory is essentially two-dimensional and exhibits a Fermi velocity superselection rule, similar to the one found in the Heavy Quark Effective Theory. Within the formalism we reproduce, using gradient expansion, the results for the effective parameters of the Nambu-Goldstone bosons. We also determine the dispersion laws for the gluons. By coupling the theory to fermions and integrating over the two-dimensional degrees of freedom we obtain the effective description of in-medium fermions., Comment: 17 pages, LaTex, 2 figures. Version published in Phys. Lett. B with an arithmetic misprint corrected in eq. (62) (and as a consequence in eqs. (63), (66) and (73))

The ratio of the sigma mass to the pion mass at finite temperatures and densities provides for a quantitative signal of chiral symmetry breaking. We calculate this ratio by using an extension to finite chemical potential of the field theoretic composite operator formalism as applied to QCD. The calculation is limited to regions of the phase diagram where only quark-antiquark condensates dominate (no quark-quark condensates) and it confirms the expected behaviours. In particular the sigma becomes an essentially stable particle in a narrow region bordering the transition line from broken to restored chirality . This pattern is qualitatively the same both for the region where the transition is of second order as for the region where it is of first order (apart from the discontinuities expected in the latter case)., Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures

We examine the D -> sigma pi amplitude through a constituent quark-meson model, incorporating heavy quark and chiral symmetries, finding a good agreement with the recent E791 data analysis of D -> 3 pi via sigma., Comment: 6 pages, RevTex, One new contribution added, typos corrected

We reconsider two classical proposals for the determination of the angle gamma of the unitarity triangle: B^\pm => chi_{c0} \pi^\pm => \pi^+\pi^-\pi^\pm and B_s => rho^0 K_S => \pi^+ \pi^- K_S. We point out the relevance, in both cases, of non resonant amplitudes, where the \pi^+ \pi^- pair is produced by weak decay of a B^* (J^P=1^-) or B_0 (J^P=0^+) off-shell meson. In particular, for the B decay channel, the inclusion of the B_0 pole completes some previous analyses and confirms their conclusions, provided a suitable cut in the Dalitz plot is performed; for the B_s decay the inclusion of the B^*, B_0 amplitudes enhances the role of the tree diagrams as compared to penguin amplitudes, which makes the theoretical uncertainty related to the B_s => rho^0 K_S decay process less significant. While the first method is affected by theoretical uncertainties, the second one is cleaner, but its usefulness will depend on the available number of events to perform the analysis., Comment: 8 pages LATEX, 4 figures, 1 table

We review the prospects for studies in electroweak physics at the LHC., Comment: 114 pages, ~50 figures (some bitmapped), Latex. S. Haywood, P.R. Hobson, W. Hollik, Z. Kunszt (conveners), the Electroweak Physics Working Group of the `1999 CERN Workshop on SM physics (and more) at the LHC', to appear in the workshop report

The decay mode B -> rho pi is currently studied as a channel allowing, in principle, to measure without ambiguities the angle alpha of the unitarity triangle. It is also investigated by the CLEO Collaboration where a branching ratio larger than expected for the decay mode B+/- -> rho0 pi+/- has been found. We investigate the role that the B* and B(0+) resonances play in these analyses., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables, LaTeX (uses epsf,revtex) minor typos corrected, reference added

New data on parity violation in atomic cesium can be explained by a new neutral vector boson almost unmixed with Z, with a mass in the TeV range and sizeable couplings to the fermions. The properties of such additional Z' can be investigated at future linear colliders., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, Proceedings of the Second ECFA/DESY Study on Physics and Detectors for a Linear Electron - Positron Collider

In a class of models of dynamical symmetry breaking not ruled out by the available data, the lightest neutral pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson P0 contains only down-type techniquarks and charged technileptons. Its mass scale is naturally determined by the b-quark and therefore it is likely to be light. As the presence of pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons in models of dynamical symmetry breaking is a quite general feature, the search of the P0 at colliders is an interesting opportunity of putting limits on or discovering a dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking scenario. In this note we discuss the prospects for discovering and studying the P0 at future e+e- and gamma-gamma colliders., Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX (epsfig), Proceedings of the Second ECFA/DESY Study on Physics Studies for a Future Linear Collider

The constants of the effective action describing the massless modes in the color-flavor-locking phase of QCD have been recently evaluated at high density. Values of the pseudoscalar masses for nonvanishing quark masses have also been given. The calculated values show however a puzzling feature: when $m_u=m_d=0$ and $m_s\not=0$ all the goldstones remain massless. We show that an additional invariant is present which avoids this feature. We costruct this invariant and discuss the emerging mass pattern for the pseudogoldstones. This provides for a complete scheme for the pseudogoldstone masses in the color-flavor-locking phase of QCD., Comment: File Latex, p. 11

We study the color-flavor locked phase of QCD with three massless quarks at high chemical potential and small non zero temperatures. We make use of the recently introduced effective action to describe such a phase. We obtain the exact order T^2 behaviour of the condensates and of the pressure by formally comparing the derivative from the QCD functional with symmetry breaking to that from the effective lagrangian with external sources, respecting the residual Z_2 invariance of the color-flavor locked phase. From these exact results, but now at a very tentative level of conjecture, we are lead to think that the phase structure of QCD at very high density consists of two superconducting phases and a symmetric one., Comment: LateX, p. 14. Final version accepted for publication in Physics Letters

We describe the low energy excitations of the diquark condensates in the color-flavor locked phase of QCD with three massless flavors, at high baryon densities, in terms of a non-linear effective lagrangian. Such a lagrangian is formally seen to correspond to the lagrangian for the hidden gauge symmetry description of the effective low energy chiral lagrangian, the role of the hidden symmetry being played by color. In particular, this agrees with the conjecture that the light degrees of freedom of the two phases are in correspondence to each other (complementarity). The discussion includes consideration of the breaking of Lorentz invariance in presence of matter density., Comment: File LaTex, p. 11. Corrected some typos and references

We consider a minimal extension to higher dimensions of the Standard Model, having one compactified dimension, and we study its experimental tests in terms of electroweak data. We discuss tests from high-energy data at the $Z$-pole, and low-energy tests, notably from atomic parity violation data. This measurement combined with neutrino scattering data strongly restricts the allowed region of the model parameters. Furthermore this region is incompatible at 95% CL with the restrictions from high-energy experiments. Of course a global fit to all data is possible but the $\chi^2_{\rm min}$ for degree of freedom is unpleasantly large., Comment: LaTex, 14 pages, 2 figures. More refs. and one comment about the validity of our results for any number of extra dimensions added

We evaluate the form factors describing the exclusive decay B-> pi l nu by using a Constituent Quark-Meson model based on an effective quark-meson Lagrangian (CQM). The model allows for an expansion in the pion momenta and we consider terms up to the first order in the pion field derivatives. We compute the leading terms in the soft pion limit and consider corrections to this limit., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX (uses aps, epsf, revtex), formula 26 corrected, discussion enlarged, references updated and other minor changes

We assume the latest experimental determination of the weak charge of atomic cesium and analyze its implications for possible new physics. We notice that the data would imply positive upper and lower bounds on the new physics contribution to the weak charge, $\delta_NQ_W$. The required new physics should be of a type not severely constrained by the high energy precision data. A simplest possibility would be new neutral vector bosons almost un-mixed to the $Z$ and with sizeable couplings to fermions. The lower positive bound would however forbid zero or negative $\delta_NQ_W$ and exclude not only the standard model but also models with sequential $Z^\prime$, in particular simple-minded towers of $Z$-like excitations from extra-dimensions. The bound would also imply an upper limit on the $Z^\prime$ mass within the models allowed. Conclusions are also derived for models of four-fermion contact interactions., Comment: 11 pages, Latex, 1 PS figure, final version for Physics Letters

The procedures for studying a single narrow s-channel resonance or nearly degenerate resonances at a lepton collider, especially a muon collider, are discussed. In particular, we examine four methods for determining the parameters of a narrow s-channel resonance: scanning the resonance, measuring the convoluted cross section, measuring the Breit-Wigner area, and sitting on the resonance while varying the beam energy resolution. This latter procedure is new and appears to be potentially very powerful. Our focus is on computing the errors in resonance parameters resulting from uncertainty in the beam energy spread. Means for minimizing these errors are discussed. The discussion is applied to the examples of a light SM-Higgs, of the lightest pseudogoldstone boson of strong electroweak breaking, and of the two spin-1 resonances of the Degenerate BESS model (assuming that the beam energy spread is less than their mass splitting). We also examine the most effective procedures for nearly degenerate resonances, and apply these to the case of Degenerate BESS resonances with mass splitting of order the beam energy spread., Comment: 63 pages, 16 figures

We explore an alternative to the usual procedure of scanning for determining the properties of a narrow $s$-channel resonance. By varying the beam energy resolution while sitting on the resonance peak, the width and branching ratios of the resonance can be determined. The statistical accuracy achieved is superior to that of the usual scan procedure in the case of a light SM-like Higgs boson with $\mh>130\gev$ or for the lightest pseudogoldstone boson of a strong electroweak breaking model if $\mpzero>150\gev$., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure

We evaluate the couplings of pions in the transitions of positive parity heavy mesons, (1+,2+) and (0+,1+), to negative parity ones (0-,1-) using a technique which is not limited to the soft-pion limit. This is made through a constituent quark-meson model (the CQM model) where the amplitudes are obtained by quark loops with mesons on the external lines. The results are in good agreement with experimental data., Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, LaTeX, style file JHEP, minor corrections and discussion of new experimental data added

We evaluate the form factors governing the exclusive decays B->rho l nu, B->a_1 l nu, by using an effective quark-meson lagrangian. The model is based on meson-quark interactions, and the computation of the mesonic transition amplitudes is performed by considering diagrams with heavy mesons attached to loops containing heavy and light constituent quarks. This approach was successfully employed to compute the Isgur-Wise form factors and other hadronic observables for negative and positive parity heavy mesons and is presently used for exclusive heavy-to-light weak transitions. We also evaluate a few strong coupling constants appearing in chiral effective lagrangians for heavy and light mesons., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables, LaTeX (uses revtex, epsf)

The composite operator formalism is applied to QCD at finite temperature to calculate the masses of scalar and pseudoscalar mesons. In particular the ratio of the sigma mass to the pion mass is an interesting measure of the degree of chiral symmetry breaking at different temperatures. We calculate the temperature T* at which M_sigma(T) < 2M_pi(T), above which the sigma partial width into two pions vanishes. We find T*=0.95T_c (where T_c is the critical temperature for the chiral phase transition), within the full effective potential given by the formalism. We find that an expansion a-la Landau of the effective potential around the critical point in the limit of small quark mass provides for a very good determination of T*., Comment: 19 pages, Revtex, 2 Postscript figures

For an attractive class of dynamical symmetry breaking (technicolor) models, the lightest neutral pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson ($\pzero$) contains only down-type techniquarks and charged technileptons. We discuss the prospects for discovering and studying the $\pzero$ of such models at the Tevatron and the LHC and at future $\epem$ and $\mupmum$ colliders. Depending upon the number of technicolors, $\ntc$, discovery of the $\pzero$ at the Tevatron and the LHC in the $gg\to\pzero\to\gam\gam$ mode could be possible over a wide range of mass. For $\ntc=4$, discovery of the $\pzero$ at an $\epem$ collider via the reaction $\epem\to\gam \pzero$ should be possible as long as $\mpzero$ is not near $\mz$. In the $\gam\gam$ collider mode of operation at an $\epem$ collider, the $\gam\gam\to\pzero\to b\anti b$ signal should be very robust if $\ntc=4$. For the minimal $\ntc=1$ case, detection of the $\pzero$ at the Tevatron and in $\epem$ collisions will be very difficult, and the precision of measurements at the LHC and the $\gam\gam$ collider decline markedly. A $\mupmum$ collider yields a $\pzero$ production rate that does not depend markedly upon $\ntc$. At a $\mupmum$ collider discovery of the $\pzero$ as an $s$-channel resonance should prove possible via scanning, even if it has not already been detected elsewhere. Once $\mpzero$ is precisely known, operation of the $\mupmum$ collider as a $\pzero$ factory will allow precision measurements of enough observables to determine the number of technicolors of the theory and (up to a discrete set of ambiguities) the fundamental parameters of the low-energy effective Lagrangian describing the Yukawa couplings of the $\pzero$., Comment: 54 pages, latex equations.sty, 21 figures; revised to include results for $N_{TC}=1$ as well as $N_{TC}=4$, and other minor changes to yield correspondence to final published version

Present data, both from direct Higgs search and from analysis of electroweak data, are starting to become rather restrictive on the possible values for the mass of the standard model Higgs. We discuss a new physics scenario based on a model with decoupling (both in a linear and in a non linear version) showing how it allows for an excellent fit to the present values of the $\epsilon$ parameters and how it widens the allowed ranges for the Higgs mass (thought as elementary in the linear version, or as composite in the non linear one)., Comment: 10 pages, 3 Figures Latex

We describe the effective heavy meson lagrangian for S- and P-wave heavy-light mesons in terms of a model based on meson-quark interactions, where mesonic transition amplitudes are represented by diagrams with heavy mesons attached to loops containing heavy and light constituent quarks. The model is relativistic and incorporates the heavy quark symmetries. The universal form factors of the heavy meson transition amplitudes are calculated together with their slopes and compared to existing data and limits. As further applications of the model, strong and radiative decays of D* and B* are considered. The agreement with data is surprisingly good and shows that the model offers a viable alternative to effective meson lagrangians which require a larger number of input parameters., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX (style aps,epsf,prl), minor typos corrected and few references added, final version to appear in Phys. Rev. D