Lepton flavor violation as a probe of quark-lepton unification
The recent measurements of the solar neutrino mixing angle {theta}{sub sol} and the Cabibbo mixing angle {theta}{sub C} reveal a surprising relation, , which has been interpreted as an evidence for quark-lepton unification. We show in realizations of quark-lepton unification that the PMNS mixing matrix can be decomposed into a CKM-like matrix and maximal mixing matrices. We explore a possibility to probe such implications by considering the relative sizes of branching ratios for the lepton flavor violating radiative decay processes, l{sub i}{yields}l{sub j}{gamma}, in the context of the supersymmetric standard model with heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos.

title: Measurement of |V(ub) / V(cb)| (and |V(ub)|) in exclusive nonleptonic decays within the generalized factorization scheme
abstract: Within the generalized factorization scheme, we study extracting $|{V}_{\mathrm{ub}}{/V}_{\mathrm{cb}}|$ by calculating the ratios $\mathcal{B}({B}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{D}_{s}^{(*)\ensuremath{-}}({\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+},{\ensuremath{\rho}}^{+}))/\mathcal{B}({B}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{D}_{s}^{(*)\ensuremath{-}}{D}^{(*)+})$ including penguin effects. The ratios involving the ${B}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{D}_{s}^{\ensuremath{-}}{D}^{+}$ mode have considerable penguin corrections $(\ensuremath{\sim}15%$ at the amplitude level), but those involving the ${B}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{D}_{s}^{\ensuremath{-}}{D}^{*+}$ mode have relatively small penguin corrections. On the other hand, the ${B}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{D}_{s}^{\ensuremath{-}}{D}^{+}$ mode has a smaller form-factor dependence. Therefore, these ratios complement each other in measuring ${V}_{\mathrm{ub}}{/V}_{\mathrm{cb}}.$ The theoretical uncertainty from the hadronic form factors in our method is at the level of 20%, which is comparable to the model dependence uncertainty of about 20% in the measurement of $|{V}_{\mathrm{ub}}{/V}_{\mathrm{cb}}|$ from the exclusive semileptonic B decays. Using the newest upper limit on $\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{B}{D}_{s}\ensuremath{\pi}$ decay from CLEO, our method sets an upper limit $|{V}_{\mathrm{ub}}{/V}_{\mathrm{cb}}|l0.13$ which is very close to the measured values from the semileptonic B decays.

title: The intrinsic and oscillated astrophysical neutrino flavor ratios
abstract: The pp interactions taking place in the cosmos around us are a source of the astrophysical neutrinos of all the three flavors. In these interactions, the electron and the muon neutrinos mainly come from the production and the decay of the \pi^{\pm} mesons, whereas the tau neutrinos mainly come from the production and the decay of the D^{\pm}_{S} mesons. We estimate the three intrinsic neutrino flavor ratios for 1 GeV 10^{-10} in the presence of neutrino oscillations, where L is the distance to the astrophysical neutrino source in units of parsecs.

title: CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed decay tau ---> K pi tau-neutrino with polarized tau leptons

title: Phased breaking of -t symmetry and leptogenesis
abstract: Nonvanishing U{sub e3} has been theoretically related to a certain flavor symmetry breaking in the neutrino sector. We propose a scenario to break the {mu}-{tau} symmetry so as to accommodate the nonvanishing U{sub e3}. Our scenario is constructed in the context of a seesaw model, and the {mu}-{tau} symmetry breaking is achieved by introducing a CP phase in the Dirac Yukawa matrix. We also show how the deviation of {theta}{sub 23} from the maximal mixing and nonvanishing U{sub e3} depend on the CP phase. Neutrino mixings and the neutrino mass-squared differences are discussed, and the amplitude in neutrinoless double beta decay m{sub ee} are also predicted. We found that a tiny breaking of the {mu}-{tau} symmetry due to mass splitting between two degenerate heavy Majorana neutrinos on top of the Dirac CP phase can lead to successful leptogenesis. We examine how leptogenesis can be related with low energy neutrino measurement, and show that our predictions for U{sub e3} and m{sub ee} can be constrained by the current observation of baryon asymmetry.

title: mu- tau Symmetry and Radiatively Generated Leptogenesis
abstract: We consider a $\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\tau}$ symmetry in neutrino sectors realized at the GUT scale in the context of a seesaw model. In our scenario, the exact $\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\tau}$ symmetry realized in the basis where the charged lepton and heavy Majorana neutrino mass matrices are diagonal leads to vanishing lepton asymmetries. We find that, in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the seesaw model with large $\mathrm{tan}﻿\ensuremath{\beta}$, the renormalization group (RG) evolution from the GUT scale to seesaw scale can induce a successful leptogenesis even without introducing any symmetry breaking terms by hand, whereas such RG effects lead to tiny deviations of ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{23}$ and ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{13}$ from $\ensuremath{\pi}/4$ and zero, respectively. It is shown that the right amount of the baryon asymmetry ${\ensuremath{\eta}}_{B}$ can be achieved via so-called resonant leptogenesis, which can be realized at rather low seesaw scale with large $\mathrm{tan}﻿\ensuremath{\beta}$ in our scenario so that the well-known gravitino problem is safely avoided.

title: A vector-like heavy quark in the littlest Higgs model
abstract: The littlest Higgs model contains a new vector-like heavy quark in the up sector. There are two interesting features of its existence. One is that it extends the 3 × 3 CKM matrix in the standard model to a 4 × 3 matrix and the other is that it allows Z-mediated flavor changing neutral currents at tree level in the up sector but not in the down sector. We examine a few of possible windows in which the Z-mediated flavor changing neutral currents in the littlest Higgs model can be tested.

title: Multi-site campaign for transit timing variations of WASP-12 b: possible detection of a long-period signal of planetary origin
abstract: The transiting planet WASP-12 b was identified as a potential target for transit-timing studies because a departure from a linear ephemeris has been reported in the literature. Such deviations could be caused by an additional planet in the system. We attempt to confirm the claimed variations in transit timing and interpret their origin.  We organised a multi-site campaign to observe transits by WASP-12 b in three observing seasons, using 0.5–2.6-metre telescopes.  We obtained 61 transit light curves, many of them with sub-millimagnitude precision. The simultaneous analysis of the best-quality datasets allowed us to obtain refined system parameters, which agree with values reported in previous studies. The residuals versus a linear ephemeris reveal a possible periodic signal that may be approximated by a sinusoid with an amplitude of 0.00068 ± 0.00013 d and period of 500 ± 20 orbital periods of WASP-12 b. The joint analysis of timing data and published radial velocity measurements results in a two-planet model that explains observations better than do single-planet scenarios. We hypothesise that WASP-12 b might not be the only planet in the system, and there might be the additional 0.1 MJup body on a 3.6-d eccentric orbit. A dynamical analysis indicates that the proposed two-planet system is stable on long timescales.

title: Color-octet mechanism in the inclusive D-wave charmonium productions in B decays
abstract: The inclusive D-wave charmonium production rates in B decays are considered in the Bodwin-Braaten-Lepage (BBL) approach. We find that the color-octet subprocesses B → cc(3S1(8) or 3PJ(80) + s, d, followed by the transition cc(3S1(8), or 3PJ(8)) → 3DJ, strongly dominate over any other subprocess, due to the large Wilson coefficient for the ΔB = 1 effective lagrangian. Assuming that the numerical values of the matrix elements 〈0|O3DJ(3S1(8))|0〉 and 〈0|O3DJ(3PJ(8))|0〉 are the same order of magnitudes with the 〈0|Oψ′ (3S1(8))|0〉, we find that the 1,3D2 can be observed B-factories.

title: Squark mixing in electron positron reactions
abstract: Squark mixing plays a large role in the phenomenology of the minimal supersymmetric standard model, determining the mass of the lightest Higgs boson and the electroweak interactions of the squarks themselves. We examine how mixing may be investigated in high energy e + e reactions, both at LEP-II and the proposed linear collider. In particular, off-diagonal production of one lighter and one heavier squark allows one to measure the squark mixing angle, and would allow one to test the mass relations for the light Higgs boson. In some cases off-diagonal production may provide the best prospects to discover supersymmetry. In the context of the light bottom squark scenario, we show that existing data from LEP-II should show definitive evidence for the heavier �

title: The Qweak: Precision Measurement of the Proton’s Weak Charge by Parity Violating Experiment
abstract: The Qweak experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility measures the parity violating asymmetry in longitudinally polarized electron scattering from the proton at very low momentum transfer, Q2 = 0.026 (GeV/c)2, at an incident electron beam energy of 1.16 GeV. With this measurement and the earlier results of the parity violating elastic scattering experiments, the Qweak experiment determines the weak charge of the proton, $${Q^p_{\rm W}}$$, with a 4% combined statistical and systematic error. This measurement will be used to determine the weak mixing angle, $${\sin^2\theta_{\rm W}}$$, that is predicted by the Standard Model from the Z0 pole down to lower energies. Qweak will determine $${\sin^2\theta_{\rm W}}$$ to a 0.3% relative precision, providing a competitive measurement of the running of this quantity. Moreover, if there is a significant deviation of the weak mixing angle from the Standard Model prediction, then the Qweak experiment will give a glimpse of possible extensions of the Standard Model.