W Pair Production at the LHC - I. Virtual O(alpha_s^2) Corrections in the High Energy Limit

We present the result for the two-loop and the one-loop squared virtual QCD corrections to the W boson pair production in the quark-anti-quark-annihilation channel in the limit where all kinematical invariants are large compared to the mass of the W boson. The infrared pole structure is in agreement with the prediction of Catani's general formalism for the singularities of two loop amplitudes.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure, references added, typos corrected, final version as publishe

Variáveis agronômicas e variabilidade viral entre videiras sintomáticas e assintomáticas para viroses.

Os objetivos deste trabalho foram avaliar variáveis agronômicas em videiras com e sem sintomas de virose e caracterizar isolados virais destas plantas

Fermionic Corrections to the Three-Loop Matching Coefficient of the Vector Current

In this paper we consider the matching coefficient of the vector current between Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) and Non-Relativistic QCD (NRQCD) to three-loop order in perturbation theory. We evaluate the fermionic corrections containing a closed massless fermion loop. The results are building blocks both for the bottom and top quark system at threshold. We explain in detail the methods used for the evaluation of the Feynman diagrams, classify the occurring master integrals and provide results for the latter. The numerical effects are significant. They have the tendency to improve the behaviour of the perturbative series -- both for the bottom and top quark system.Comment: 21 page

Heavy quark mass determination from the quarkonium ground state energy: a pole mass approach

The heavy quark pole mass in perturbation theory suffers from a renormalon caused, inherent uncertainty of $O(\Lambda_{\rm QCD})$. This fundamental difficulty of determining the pole mass to an accuracy better than the inherent uncertainty can be overcome by direct resummation of the first infrared renormalon. We show how a properly defined pole mass as well as the $\bar {\rm MS}$ mass for the top and bottom quarks can be determined accurately from the $O(m\alpha_s^5)$ quarkonium ground state energy.Comment: 16 pages; published versio

The QCD Potential at O(1/m)O(1/m)

Within an effective field theory framework, we obtain an expression for the next-to-leading term in the $1/m$ expansion of the singlet $Q{\bar Q}$ QCD potential in terms of Wilson loops, which holds beyond perturbation theory. The ambiguities in the definition of the QCD potential beyond leading order in $1/m$ are discussed and a specific expression for the $1/m$ potential is given. We explicitly evaluate this expression at one loop and compare the outcome with the existing perturbative results. On general grounds we show that for quenched QED and fully Abelian-like models this expression exactly vanishes.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, 1 figure. Journal version. Discussion refined, misprints corrected, few references added; results unchange

Quarkonium spectroscopy and perturbative QCD: massive quark-loop effects

We study the spectra of the bottomonium and B_c states within perturbative QCD up to order alpha_s^4. The O(Lambda_QCD) renormalon cancellation between the static potential and the pole mass is performed in the epsilon-expansion scheme. We extend our previous analysis by including the (dominant) effects of non-zero charm-quark mass in loops up to the next-to-leading non-vanishing order epsilon^3. We fix the b-quark MSbar mass $\bar{m}_b \equiv m_b^{\bar{\rm MS}}(m_b^{\bar{\rm MS}})$ on Upsilon(1S) and compute the higher levels. The effect of the charm mass decreases $\bar{m}_b$ by about 11 MeV and increases the n=2 and n=3 levels by about 70--100 MeV and 240--280 MeV, respectively. We provide an extensive quantitative analysis. The size of non-perturbative and higher order contributions is discussed by comparing the obtained predictions with the experimental data. An agreement of the perturbative predictions and the experimental data depends crucially on the precise value (inside the present error) of alpha_s(M_Z). We obtain $m_b^{\bar{\rm MS}}(m_b^{\bar{\rm MS}}) = 4190 \pm 20 \pm 25 \pm 3 ~ {\rm MeV}$.Comment: 33 pages, 21 figures; v2: Abstract modified; Table7 (summary of errors) added; Version to appear in Phys.Rev.

Energy and decay width of the pi-K atom

The energy and decay width of the pi-K atom are evaluated in the framework of the quasipotential-constraint theory approach. The main electromagnetic and isospin symmetry breaking corrections to the lowest-order formulas for the energy shift from the Coulomb binding energy and for the decay width are calculated. They are estimated to be of the order of a few per cent. We display formulas to extract the strong interaction S-wave pi-K scattering lengths from future experimental data concerning the pi-K atom.Comment: 37 pages, 5 figures, uses Axodra

Involvement of patients or their representatives in quality management functions in EU hospitals:implementation and impact on patient-centred care strategies

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to describe the involvement of patients or their representatives in quality management (QM) functions and to assess associations between levels of involvement and the implementation of patient-centred care strategies. DESIGN: A cross-sectional, multilevel STUDY DESIGN: that surveyed quality managers and department heads and data from an organizational audit. SETTING: Randomly selected hospitals (n = 74) from seven European countries (The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey). PARTICIPANTS: Hospital quality managers (n = 74) and heads of clinical departments (n = 262) in charge of four patient pathways (acute myocardial infarction, stroke, hip fracture and deliveries) participated in the data collection between May 2011 and February 2012. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Four items reflecting essential patient-centred care strategies based on an on-site hospital visit: (1) formal survey seeking views of patients and carers, (2) written policies on patients' rights, (3) patient information literature including guidelines and (4) fact sheets for post-discharge care. The main predictors were patient involvement in QM at the (i) hospital level and (ii) pathway level. RESULTS: Current levels of involving patients and their representatives in QM functions in European hospitals are low at hospital level (mean score 1.6 on a scale of 0 to 5, SD 0.7), but even lower at departmental level (mean 0.6, SD 0.7). We did not detect associations between levels of involving patients and their representatives in QM functions and the implementation of patient-centred care strategies; however, the smallest hospitals were more likely to have implemented patient-centred care strategies. CONCLUSIONS: There is insufficient evidence that involving patients and their representatives in QM leads to establishing or implementing strategies and procedures that facilitate patient-centred care; however, lack of evidence should not be interpreted as evidence of no effect