Related papers: Long-distance contributions to flavour-changing pr…
We present a new method to evaluate with high precision isospin breaking effects due to the small mass difference between the up and down quarks using lattice QCD. Our proposal is applicable in principle to any hadronic observable which can…
We revisit the calculation of the long-distance contribution to the muon-polarization asymmetry \Delta_{LR}, which arises, in K^+\to\pi^+\mu^+\mu^-, from the two-photon intermediate state. The parity-violating amplitude of this process,…
The MILC Collaboration has been producing ensembles of lattice configurations with three dynamical flavors for the past few years. There are now results for three lattice spacings for a variety of light and strange quark masses, ranging…
The theory of rare $K$ decays is reviewed, emphasizing short-distance processes and the prospects to probe the physics of flavour. A brief overview of the subject is presented, along with a more detailed discussion of the theory of…
The impact of rare K decays and lepton-flavor violating processes in shedding light on physics beyond the Standard Model is reviewd. To this purpose, I first recall the formulation of the Minimal Flavor Violation hypothesis --both in the…
A systematic approach to long-distance effects in exclusive radiative weak $B$ decays is presented, based on a combination of the heavy quark limit with perturbative QCD. The dominant long-distance effects, connected with weak annihilation…
Lattice calculations of matrix elements relevant for kaon decays, and in particular for epsilon'/epsilon, are reviewed. The role of the strange quark mass is also discussed. A comparison with other non-perturbative approaches used to…
We provide general effective-theory arguments relating present-day discrepancies in semi-leptonic $B$-meson decays to signals in kaon physics, in particular lepton-flavour violating ones of the kind $K \to (\pi) e^\pm \mu^\mp$. We show that…
We present a new method to evaluate with high precision the isospin breaking effects due to the mass difference between the up and down quarks using lattice QCD. Our proposal is applicable in principle to any hadronic observable which can…
We present an update of the MILC investigation of the properties of light pseudoscalar mesons using three flavors of improved staggered quarks. Results are presented for the $\pi$ and $K$ leptonic decay constants, the CKM matrix element…
The $B\to K^*\mu\mu$ decay exhibits deviations with respect to Standard Model expectations and the measurement of the ratio $R_K$ hints at a violation of lepton-flavour universality in $B\to K\ell\ell$ transitions. Both effects can be…
We revisit the calculation of the long distance contribution to $K_L \to \mu^+ \mu^-$. We discuss this process within the framework of chiral perturbation theory, and also using simple models for the $K_L \gamma^* \gamma^*$ vertex. We argue…
Two pion decays of K mesons, K_L-K_S mass difference, two photon and the Dalitz decays of K_L are studied systematically by assuming that their amplitude is given by a sum of factorizable and non-factorizable ones. The former is estimated…
After years of silence we should witness in the rest of this decade and in the next decade the revival of kaon flavour physics. This is not only because of the crucial measurements of the branching ratios for the rare decays…
We consider lepton-flavor violation in strangeness changing ($|\Delta S|=1$) semileptonic $\tau$-lepton decays arising from new physics encoded in a standard model effective Lagrangian. Its invariance under the standard model gauge group…
Lattice QCD should allow a derivation of the $\Delta I=1/2$ rule from first principles, but numerical calculations to date have been plagued by a variety of problems. After a brief review of these problems, we present several new methods…
In these lectures I first cover radiative and semileptonic B decays, including the QCD corrections for the quark subprocesses. The exclusive modes and the evaluation of the hadronic matrix elements, i.e. the relevant hadronic form factors,…
We discuss a number of old and new methods for computing $K\to\pi\pi$ amplitudes on the lattice. They all involve a non-perturbative determination of matching coefficients. We show how problems related to operator mixing can be greatly…
We calculate the independent helicity amplitudes in the decays $B \to K^* \ell^+ \ell^-$ and $B \to \rho \ell \nu_\ell$ in the so-called Large-Energy-Effective-Theory (LEET). Taking into account the dominant $O(\alpha_s)$ and SU(3)…
We present an exploratory lattice QCD calculation of the neutrinoless double beta decay $\pi\pi\to ee$. Under the mechanism of light-neutrino exchange, the decay amplitude involves significant long-distance contributions. The calculation…