Decay widths and scattering processes in massive QED2_2

Using mass perturbation theory, we infer the bound-state spectrum of massive QED$_2$ and compute some decay widths of unstable bound states. Further, we discuss scattering processes, where all the resonances and particle production thresholds are properly taken into account by our methods.Comment: Latex file, 5 pages, 8 ps-figures & 1 style-file; written version of a talk given at the QCD97 conference in Montpellier, Franc

Decay widths in the massive Schwinger model

By a closer inspection of the massive Schwinger model within mass perturbation theory we find that, in addition to the $n$-boson bound states, a further type of hybrid bound states has to be included into the model. Further we explicitly compute the decay widths of the three-boson bound state and of the lightest hybrid bound state.Comment: 8 pages, Latex file, no figure

Scattering states of a vortex in the proximity-induced superconducting state at the interface of a topological insulator and an s-wave superconductor

We consider an isolated vortex in the two-dimensional proximity-induced superconducting state formed at the interface of a three-dimensional strong topological insulator (TI) and an s-wave superconductor (sSC). Prior calculations of the bound states of this system famously revealed a zero-energy state that is its own conjugate, a Majorana fermion bound to the vortex core. We calculate, not the bound states, but the scattering states of this system, and ask how the spin-momentum-locked massless Dirac form of the single-particle Hamiltonian, inherited from the TI surface, affects the cross section for scattering Bogoliubov quasiparticles from the vortex. As in the case of an ordinary superconductor, this is a two-channel problem with the vortex mixing particle-like and hole-like excitations. And as in the ordinary case, the same-channel differential cross section diverges in the forward direction due to the Aharonov-Bohm effect, resulting in an infinite total cross section but finite transport and skew cross sections. We calculate the transport and skew cross sections numerically, via a partial wave analysis, as a function of both quasiparticle excitation energy and chemical potential. Novel effects emerge as particle-like or hole-like excitations are tuned through the Dirac point.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures; modified title, improved figures, as published in PR

Multiple zero modes of the Dirac operator in three dimensions

One of the key properties of Dirac operators is the possibility of a degeneracy of zero modes. For the Abelian Dirac operator in three dimensions the construction of multiple zero modes has been sucessfully carried out only very recently. Here we generalise these results by discussing a much wider class of Dirac operators together with their zero modes. Further we show that those Dirac operators that do admit zero modes may be related to Hopf maps, where the Hopf index is related to the number of zero modes in a simple way.Comment: Latex file, 20 pages, no figure

Sequential Specification Tests to Choose a Model: A Change-Point Approach

Researchers faced with a sequence of candidate model specifications must often choose the best specification that does not violate a testable identification assumption. One option in this scenario is sequential specification tests: hypothesis tests of the identification assumption over the sequence. Borrowing an idea from the change-point literature, this paper shows how to use the distribution of p-values from sequential specification tests to estimate the point in the sequence where the identification assumption ceases to hold. Unlike current approaches, this method is robust to individual errant p-values and does not require choosing a test level or tuning parameter. This paper demonstrates the method's properties with a simulation study, and illustrates it by application to the problems of choosing a bandwidth in a regression discontinuity design while maintaining covariate balance and of choosing a lag order for a time series model

Zero modes of the Dirac operator in three dimensions

We investigate zero modes of the Dirac operator coupled to an Abelian gauge field in three dimensions. We find that the existence of a certain class of zero modes is related to a specific topological property precisely when the requirement of finite Chern--Simons action is imposed.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, uses the macro psbox.tex, replaced by a revised version to be published in Phys. Rev. D. The section on the Seiberg-Witten equations, which contained a sign error, has been removed. This removal leads to further issues which will appear in a future publicatio

Charm semileptonic decays at LHCb

In these proceedings, we explore the possible reach of the LHCb dataset in the area of charm semileptonic decays. Specifically, we give prospects for the measurement of $|V_{cs}|/|V_{cd}|$ using $\mathcal{B}(D^0\to K^-\mu^+\nu_\mu)/\mathcal{B}(D^0\to\pi^-\mu^+\nu_\mu)$ with Run I data. Preliminary projections show that the LHCb Run I dataset would give a relative statistical uncertainty of $\sim 0.2\%$ on this ratio. We also motivate the search for lepton non-universality in the charm sector.Comment: Proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on the CKM Unitarity Triangle, 28 November - 3 December 2016, Tata Institute for Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India. 6 pages, 3 figure

Gauged BPS baby Skyrmions with quantised magnetic flux

A new type of gauged BPS baby Skyrme model is presented, where the derivative term is just the Schroers current (i.e., gauge invariant and conserved version of the topological current) squared. This class of models has a topological bound saturated for solutions of the pertinent Bogomolnyi equations supplemented by a so-called superpotential equation. In contrast to the gauged BPS baby Skyrme models considered previously, the superpotential equation is linear and, hence, completely solvable. Furthermore, the magnetic flux is quantized in units of $2\pi$, which allows, in principle, to define this theory on a compact manifold without boundary, unlike all gauged baby Skyrme models considered so far.Comment: Latex, 17 page