The Pythia program can be used to generate high-energy-physics ''events'', i.e. sets of outgoing particles produced in the interactions between two incoming particles. The objective is to provide as accurate as possible a representation of event properties in a wide range of reactions, within and beyond the Standard Model, with emphasis on those where strong interactions play a role, directly or indirectly, and therefore multihadronic final states are produced. The physics is then not understood well enough to give an exact description; instead the program has to be based on a combination of analytical results and various QCD-based models. This physics input is summarized here, for areas such as hard subprocesses, initial- and final-state parton showers, underlying events and beam remnants, fragmentation and decays, and much more. Furthermore, extensive information is provided on all program elements: subroutines and functions, switches and parameters, and particle and process data. This should allow the user to tailor the generation task to the topics of interest.

/pdf/pythia-6-4-physics-and-manual-3dvwmijpnq.pdf

PYTHIA 6.4 Physics and Manual

http://risa.stanford.edu/teaching/362/particledarkmatter.pdf

Particle dark matter: Evidence, candidates and constraints

This paper gives the 2010 self-consistent set of values of the basic constants and conversion factors of physics and chemistry recommended by the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA) for international use. The 2010 adjustment takes into account the data considered in the 2006 adjustment as well as the data that became available from 1 January 2007, after the closing date of that adjustment, until 31 December 2010, the closing date of the new adjustment. Further, it describes in detail the adjustment of the values of the constants, including the selection of the final set of input data based on the results of least-squares analyses. The 2010 set replaces the previously recommended 2006 CODATA set and may also be found on the World Wide Web at physics.nist.gov/constants.

/pdf/codata-recommended-values-of-the-fundamental-physical-4bsdant71c.pdf

CODATA Recommended Values of the Fundamental Physical Constants: 2006

Theory and phenomenology of two-Higgs-doublet models

We review the present status of QCD corrections to weak decays beyond the leading-logarithmic approximation, including particle-antiparticle mixing and rare and $\mathrm{CP}$-violating decays. After presenting the basic formalism for these calculations we discuss in detail the effective Hamiltonians of all decays for which the next-to-leading-order corrections are known. Subsequently, we present the phenomenological implications of these calculations. The values of various parameters are updated, in particular the mass of the newly discovered top quark. One of the central issues in this review are the theoretical uncertainties related to renormalization-scale ambiguities, which are substantially reduced by including next-to-leading-order corrections. The impact of this theoretical improvement on the determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix is then illustrated. [S0034-6861(96)00304-2]

Weak decays beyond leading logarithms

I give a very short introduction to Chiral Perturbation Theory and an overview of the next-to-next-to-leading order three-flavour calculations done. I discuss those relevant for an improvement in the accuracy of the measurement of $V_{us}$ in more detail. One major conclusion is that all needed $p^6$ low energy constants can be obtained from experiment via the scalar form-factor in $K_{\ell3}$ decays.

Chiral Dynamics in the Meson Sector at two Loops

This talk contains a short overview of the history of the interplay of the weak and the strong interaction and CP-violation. It describes the phenomenology and the basic physics mechanisms involved in the standard model calculations of K→ππ decays with an emphasis on the evaluation of penguin operator matrix-elements

Penguins 2002: penguins in K→ππ decays

This review contains an overview of strong interaction effects in weak decays starting with a historical introduction. It contains a short overview of semileptonic decays and their relevance for measuring CKM matrix elements. The main part is devoted to the theoretical calculation on nonleptonic matrix elements relevant for K 0 -K 0 bar mixing and K to pi pi decays. It concludes with a short summary of rare kaon decays.

QCD and Weak Interactions of Light Quarks

Constraints on the hadronic light-by-light in the Melnikov-Vainshtein regime

An overview is presented of the talks in the working group on Goldstone Bosons. Topics touched on are CP-violation in the Kaon system, rare Kaon decays, $\pi\pi$-scattering, $\phi$-meson decays, scalar mesons, form-factors and polarizabilities, $\eta$-decays, chiral symmetry breaking, connections with QCD at short-distances and effective theories for electroweak physics.

Johan Bijnens

Papers

Chiral Dynamics in the Meson Sector at two Loops

Penguins 2002: penguins in K→ππ decays

QCD and Weak Interactions of Light Quarks

Constraints on the hadronic light-by-light in the Melnikov-Vainshtein regime

Report of the Working Group on Goldstone Bosons