THE SENSITIVITY TO NEW PHYSICS OF A LEP SCAN IN 1995

We study the implications of possible off-peak measurements in the 1995 LEP run, in regard to probing physics beyond the Standard Model. To do so, we determine the accuracy with which various nonstandard couplings can be expected to be measured in the three different scan scenarios recently discussed by Clarke and Wyatt. We find that each scan scenario allows greater sensitivity to a different set of new physics couplings. Oblique parameters are best measured with the longest scan, while nonstandard fermion couplings to the Z tend to be better constrained (albeit only marginally) if all of the 1995 LEP measurements are taken on the Z peak.Comment: Plain TeX, 9 pages, no figures. We have streamlined our presentation by omitting observables of our Class B. All else is completely unchanged

The Baffling Semileptonic Branching Ratio of BB Mesons

The apparent gap between the measured and the expected value for the semileptonic branching ratio of $B$ mesons has become more serious over the last year. This is due to the improved quality of the data and to the increasing maturity of the theoretical treatment of non-perturbative corrections. We discuss various theoretical options to reduce the semileptonic $B$ branching ratio; among the more spectacular resolutions of the apparent puzzle is the possibility of an unorthodox enhancement in non-perturbative corrections or even of an intervention by `New Physics'. Phenomenological implications of such scenarios are pointed out.Comment: 16 Latex pages; 4 figures to be obtained from I.Bigi; preprint CERN-TH.7082/93; some misprints in the original version have been corrected and some references adde

Determination of alpha_s from scaling violations of truncated moments of structure functions

We determine the strong coupling alpha_s(M_Z) from scaling violations of truncated moments of the nonsinglet deep inelastic structure function F_2. Truncated moments are determined from BCDMS and NMC data using a neural network parametrization which retains the full experimental information on errors and correlations. Our method minimizes all sources of theoretical uncertainty and bias which characterize extractions of alpha_s from scaling violations. We obtain alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.124 +0.004-0.007 (exp.) + 0.003- 0.004 (th.).Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures, latex with epsfig; neural network parametrization available from http://sophia.ecm.ub.es/f2neura

Comment on the recent COMPASS data on the spin structure function g_1

We examine the recent COMPASS data on the spin structure function g_1 singlet. We show that it is rather difficult to use the data in the present form in order to draw conclusions on the initial parton densities. However, our tentative estimate is that the data better agree with positive rather than negative initial gluon densities.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

Ultraviolet Completion of Flavour Models

Effective Flavour Models do not address questions related to the nature of the fundamental renormalisable theory at high energies. We study the ultraviolet completion of Flavour Models, which in general has the advantage of improving the predictivity of the effective models. In order to illustrate the important features we provide minimal completions for two known A4 models. We discuss the phenomenological implications of the explicit completions, such as lepton flavour violating contributions that arise through the exchange of messenger fields.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

Heavy Quark Lifetimes, Mixing and CP Violation

This paper emphasizes four topics that represent some of the year's highlights in heavy quark physics. First of all, a review is given of charm lifetime measurements and how they lead to better understanding of the mechanisms of charm decay. Secondly, the CLEO collaboration's new search for charm mixing is reported, which significantly extends the search for new physics in that sector. Thirdly, important updates in Bs mixing are summarized, which result in a new limit on the mass difference, and which further constrain the unitarity triangle. Finally, the first efforts to measure CP violation in the B system are discussed. Results are shown for the CDF and ALEPH measurements of sin(2beta), as well as the CLEO branching fraction measurements of B-->Kpi,pipi, which have implications for future measurements of alpha.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures. Talk given at the XIX International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions, Stanford University, August 9-14, 199

The Inclusive Semileptonic Decay Lepton Spectrum from B→Xeν‾B \to X e \overline{\nu}

In this talk, we review the QCD calculation of the lepton spectrum from inclusive semileptonic $B$ decay. We compare this prediction to that of the ACCMM model. This latter work was done in collaboration with Csaba Csaki.Comment: MIT-CTP-2333, uses LATEX. Invited Talk, Presented at WHEPP-3 Workshop in Madras,India, January, 199

Polarized Deeply Inelastic Scattering (DIS) Structure Functions for Nucleons and Nuclei

We extract parton distribution functions (PDFs) and structure functions from recent experimental data of polarized lepton-DIS on nucleons at next-to-leading order (NLO) Quantum Chromodynamics. We apply the Jacobi polynomial method to the DGLAP evolution as this is numerically efficient. Having determined the polarized proton and neutron spin structure, we extend this analysis to describe 3He and 3H polarized structure functions, as well as various sum rules. We compare our results with other analyses from the literature.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages, 11 figures, 6 tables. Update to match published versio

The Lambda_b lifetime in the light front quark model

The enhancement of the Lambda_b decay width relative to B decay one due to the difference of Fermi motion effects in Lambda_b and B is calculated in the light--front quark model with the simplifying assumption that Lambda_b consists of the heavy quark and light scalar diquark. In order to explain the large deviation from unity in the experimental result for tau(Lambda_b)/tau(B), it is necessary that diquark be light and the ratio of the squares of the Lambda_b and B wave functions at the origin be \le 1.Comment: final journal version to appear in JETP Letter