This article reports world averages of measurements of b-hadron, c-hadron, and tau-lepton properties obtained by the Heavy Flavor Averaging Group (HFAG) using results available through the end of 2011. In some cases results available in the early part of 2012 are included. For the averaging, common input parameters used in the various analyses are adjusted (rescaled) to common values, and known correlations are taken into account. The averages include branching fractions, lifetimes, neutral meson mixing parameters, CP violation parameters, parameters of semileptonic decays and CKM matrix elements.

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Averages of b-hadron, c-hadron, and tau-lepton properties as of early 2012

A golden age for heavy-quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in 2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the B-factories and CLEO-c flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality, precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for continuing investigations at BESIII, the LHC, RHIC, FAIR, the Super Flavor and/or Tau-Charm factories, JLab, the ILC, and beyond. The list of newly found conventional states expanded to include h(c)(1P), chi(c2)(2P), B-c(+), and eta(b)(1S). In addition, the unexpected and still-fascinating X(3872) has been joined by more than a dozen other charmonium- and bottomonium-like "XYZ" states that appear to lie outside the quark model. Many of these still need experimental confirmation. The plethora of new states unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c (c) over bar, b (b) over bar, and b (c) over bar bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. Lattice QCD has grown from a tool with computational possibilities to an industrial-strength effort now dependent more on insight and innovation than pure computational power. New effective field theories for the description of quarkonium in different regimes have been developed and brought to a high degree of sophistication, thus enabling precise and solid theoretical predictions. Many expected decays and transitions have either been measured with precision or for the first time, but the confusing patterns of decays, both above and below open-flavor thresholds, endure and have deepened. The intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing directions for ongoing and future efforts.

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Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities

The anatomy of electroweak symmetry breaking: Tome I: The Higgs boson in the Standard Model

http://cds.cern.ch/record/157350/files/CM-P00062381.pdf

Hadron properties from QCD sum rules

http://cds.cern.ch/record/326993/files/9705477.pdf

Quantum chromodynamics and other field theories on the light cone

A comprehensive treatment of the charmonium model of the ψ family is presented. The model's basic assumption is a flavor-symmetric instantaneous effective interaction between quark color densities. This interaction describes both quark-antiquark binding and pair creation, and thereby provides a unified approach for energies below and above the threshold for charmed-meson production. If coupling to decay channels is ignored, one obtains the “naive” model wherein the dynamics is completely described by a single charmed-quark pair. A detailed description of this “naive” model is presented for the case where the instantaneous potential is a superposition of a linear and Coulombic term. A far more realistic picture is attained by incorporating those terms in the interaction that couple charmed quarks to light quarks. The coupled-channel formalism needed for this purpose is fully described. Formulas are given for the inclusive e + e − cross section and for e + e − e annihilation into specific charmed-meson pairs. The influence of closed decay channels on ψ states below charm threshold is investigated, with particular attention to leptonic and radiative widths.

Charmonium: The model

On the basis of a parton model studied earlier we consider the production process of large-mass lepton pairs from hadron-hadron inelastic collisions in the limiting region, $s\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$, $\frac{{Q}^{2}}{s}$ finite, ${Q}^{2}$ and $s$ being the squared invariant masses of the lepton pair and the two initial hadrons, respectively. General scaling properties and connections with deep inelastic electron scattering are discussed. In particular, a rapidly decreasing cross section as $\frac{{Q}^{2}}{s}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1$ is predicted as a consequence of the observed rapid falloff of the inelastic scattering structure function $\ensuremath{\nu}{W}_{2}$ near threshold.

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Massive Lepton-Pair Production in Hadron-Hadron Collisions at High Energies

The charmonium model, formulated in detail in an earlier publication, is compared in a comprehensive fashion with the data on the $\ensuremath{\psi}$ family. The parameters of the "naive" model, in which the system is described as a $c\overline{c}$ pair, are determined from the observed positions of $\ensuremath{\psi}$, ${\ensuremath{\psi}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$, and the $P$ states. The model then yields a successful description of the spectrum of spin-triplet states above the charm threshold. It also accounts for the ratio of the leptonic widths of ${\ensuremath{\psi}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ and $\ensuremath{\psi}$. When the $c\overline{c}$ potential is applied to the $\ensuremath{\Upsilon}$ family, it accounts, without any readjustment of parameters, for the positions of the $2S$ and $3S$ levels and for the leptonic widths of $\ensuremath{\Upsilon}$ and ${\ensuremath{\Upsilon}}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ relative to that of $\ensuremath{\psi}$. The model does not give acceptable values of the absolute leptonic widths, a shortcoming which is ascribed to large quantum-chromodynamic corrections to the van Royen-Weisskopf formula. The calculated $E1$ rates are about twice the values observed in the $\ensuremath{\psi}$ family. This naive model is also extended with considerable success to mesons composed of one heavy and one light quark. A significant extension of the model is achieved by incorporating coupling to charmed-meson decay channels. This gives a satisfactory understanding of $\ensuremath{\psi}(3772)$ as the $1^{3}D_{1}$ $c\overline{c}$ state, mixed via open and closed decay channels to $2^{3}S$. The model has decay amplitudes that are oscillatory functions of the decay momentum; these oscillations are a direct consequence of the radial nodes in the $c\overline{c}$ parent states. These amplitudes provide a qualitative understanding of the observed peculiar branching ratios into various charmed-meson channels near the resonance at 4.03 GeV, which is assigned to $3^{3}S$. The coupling of the $c\overline{c}$ states below the charm threshold to closed decay channels modifies the bound states and leads to reduction of about 20% in $E1$ rates in comparison to those of the naive model.

Charmonium: Comparison with Experiment

The discovery of narrow resonances at 3.1 and 3.7 GeV and their interpretation as charmed quark-antiquark bound states suggest additional narrow states between 3.0 and 4.3 GeV. A model which incorporates quark confinement is used to determine the quantum numbers and estimate masses and decay widths of these states. Their existence should be revealed by $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray transitions among them.

Spectrum of Charmed Quark-Antiquark Bound States

The discovery of narrow resonances at 3.1 and 3.7 GeV and their interpretation as charmed quark-antiquark bound states suggest additional narrow states between 3.0 and 4.3 GeV. A model which incorporates quark confinement is used to determine the quantum numbers and estimate masses and decay widths of these states. Their existence should be revealed by γ-ray transitions among them.

Tung-Mow Yan

Papers

Charmonium: The model

Massive Lepton-Pair Production in Hadron-Hadron Collisions at High Energies

Charmonium: Comparison with Experiment

Spectrum of Charmed Quark-Antiquark Bound States

The Spectrum of Charmonium