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# I Introduction

## I Introduction

There are two essential ingredients for understanding the hadronic decays of charmed mesons. First, the nonfactorizable contributions to the internal $`W`$-emission amplitude, which is naively expected to be color suppressed, is very sizable. Second, final-state interactions (FSIs) play an essential role. The nonfactorizable corrections to nonleptonic charm decays will compensate the Fierz terms appearing in the factorization approach to render the naively color-suppressed modes no longer color suppressed. The weak annihilation ($`W`$-exchange or $`W`$-annihilation) amplitude receives long-distance contributions via inelastic final-state interactions from the leading tree or color-suppressed amplitude. As a consequence, weak annihilation has a sizable magnitude comparable to the color-suppressed internal $`W`$-emission with a large phase relative to the tree amplitude. A well known example is the decay $`D^0\overline{K}^0\varphi `$ which proceeds only through the $`W`$-exchange process. Even in the absence of the short-distance $`W`$-exchange contribution, rescattering effects required by unitarity can produce this reaction . Then it was shown in  that this rescattering diagram belongs to the generic $`W`$-exchange topology.

There exist several different forms of FSIs: elastic scattering and inelastic scattering such as quark exchange, resonance formation,$`\mathrm{}`$, etc. The resonance formation of FSIs via $`q\overline{q}`$ resonances is probably the most important one to hadronic charm decays owing to the existence of an abundant spectrum of resonances known to exist at energies close to the mass of the charmed meson. Since FSIs are nonperturbative in nature, in principle it is notoriously difficult to calculate their effects. Nevertheless, most of the properties of resonances follow from unitarity alone, without regard to the dynamical mechanism that produces the resonance . Consequently, the effect of resonance-induced FSIs can be described in a model-independent manner in terms of the masses and decay widths of the nearby resonances (for details, see e.g. ).

It has been established sometime ago that a least model-independent analysis of heavy meson decays can be carried out in the so-called quark-diagram approach . Based on SU(3) flavor symmetry, this model-independent analysis enables us to extract the topological quark-graph amplitudes for $`DPP,VP`$ decays and see the relative importance of different underlying decay mechanisms. From this analysis one can learn the importance of the weak annihilation amplitude and a nontrivial phase between tree and color-suppressed amplitudes .

In the present paper we shall study the nonleptonic decays of charmed mesons into a pseudoscalar meson and a scalar meson. Light scalar mesons are traditionally studied in low energy $`S`$-wave $`\pi \pi `$, $`K\pi `$ and $`K\overline{K}`$ scattering experiments and in $`p\overline{p}`$ and $`Z\overline{N}`$ annihilations. Thanks to the powerful Dalitz plot analysis technique, many scalar meson production measurements in charm decays are now available from the dedicated experiments conducted at CLEO, E791, FOCUS, and BaBar. Hence the study of three-body decays of charmed mesons opens a new avenue to the understanding of the light scalar meson spectroscopy. Specifically, the decays $`Df_0\pi (K)`$, $`Da_0\pi (K)`$, $`D\overline{K}_0^{}\pi `$ and $`D^+\sigma \pi ^+`$ have been observed. Moreover, in some three-body decays of charmed mesons, the intermediate scalar meson accounts for the main contribution to the total decay rate. For example, $`D_s^+f_0(980)\pi ^+`$ and $`D_s^+f_0(1370)\pi ^+`$ account for almost 90% of the $`D_s^+\pi ^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ rate , while about half of the total decay rate of $`D^+\pi ^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ comes from $`D^+\sigma \pi ^+`$ .

The study of $`DSP`$ is very similar to $`DPP`$ except for the fact that the quark structure of the scalar mesons, especially $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$, is still not clear. A consistent picture provided by the data implies that light scalar mesons below or near 1 GeV can be described by the $`q^2\overline{q}^2`$ states, while scalars above 1 GeV will form a conventional $`q\overline{q}`$ nonet. Another salient feature is that the decay constant of the scalar meson is either zero or very small. We shall see later that final-state interactions are essential for understanding the $`DSP`$ data. It is hoped that through the study of $`DSP`$, old puzzles related to the internal structure and related parameters, e.g. the masses and widths, of light scalar mesons can receive new understanding.

This work is organized as follows. In Sec. II we summarize the experimental measurements of $`DSP`$ decays and emphasize that many results are still preliminary. We then discuss the various properties of the scalar mesons in Sec. III, for example, the quark structure, the decay constants and the form factors. Sec. IV is devoted to the quark-diagram scheme and its implication for final-state interactions. We analyze the $`DSP`$ data in Sec. V based on the generalized factorization approach in conjunction with FSIs. Conclusion is made in Sec. VI.

## II Experimental status

It is known that three-body decays of heavy mesons provide a rich laboratory for studying the intermediate state resonances. The Dalitz plot analysis is a very useful technique for this purpose. We are interested in $`DSP`$ ($`S`$: scalar meson, $`P`$: pseudoscalar meson) decays extracted from the three-body decays of charmed mesons. Some recent results (many being preliminary) are available from E791 , CLEO , FOCUS  and BaBar . The $`0^+`$ scalar mesons that have been studied in charm decays are $`\sigma (500)`$ \[or $`f_0(600)`$\], $`f_0(980)`$, $`f_0(1370)`$, $`a_0(980)`$, $`a_0(1450)`$, $`\kappa `$ and $`K_0^{}(1430)`$. The results of various experiments are summarized in Table I where the product of $`(DSP)`$ and $`(SP_1P_2)`$ is listed. In order to extract the branching ratios for $`Df_0P`$, we use the value of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(f_0\pi \pi )/[\mathrm{\Gamma }(f_0\pi \pi )+\mathrm{\Gamma }(f_0K\overline{K})]=0.68`$ . Therefore,

$`(f_0(980)K^+K^{})=0.16,(f_0(980)\pi ^+\pi ^{})=0.45.`$ (1)
For $`Da_0P`$, we apply the PDG (Particle Data Group) average, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(a_0K\overline{K})/\mathrm{\Gamma }(a_0\pi \eta )=0.177\pm 0.024`$ , to obtain

$`(a_0^+(980)K^+\overline{K}^0)`$ $`=`$ $`(a_0^{}(980)K^{}K^0)=0.15\pm 0.02,`$ (2)
$`(a_0^0(980)K^+K^{})`$ $`=`$ $`0.075\pm 0.010.`$ (3)
Needless to say, it is of great importance to have more precise measurements of the branching fractions of $`f_0`$ and $`a_0`$.

Several remarks are in order.

1. The Cabibbo doubly suppressed mode $`D^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ has been recently observed by FOCUS . The Cabibbo-allowed $`D^0a_0^+K^{}`$ and doubly Cabibbo-suppressed mode $`D^0a_0^{}K^+`$ have been extracted from the three-body decay $`D^0K^+K^{}\overline{K}^0`$ by BaBar .
2. The decay $`D^+K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$ has been measured by E691  and E687  and the combined branching ratio for $`D^+K_0^0\pi ^+`$ is quoted to be $`(3.7\pm 0.4)\%`$ by PDG  (see also Table I). A highly unusual feature is that this three-body decay is dominated by the nonresonant contribution at 90% level, whereas it is known that nonresonant effects account for at most 10% in other three-body decay modes of charmed mesons . A recent Dalitz plot analysis by E791  reveals that a best fit to the data is obtained if the presence of an additional scalar resonance called $`\kappa `$ is included. As a consequence, the nonresonant decay fraction drops from 90% to $`(13\pm 6)\%`$, whereas $`\kappa \pi ^+`$ accounts for $`(48\pm 12)\%`$ of the total rate. Therefore, the branching ratio of $`D^+\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^+`$ is dropped from $`(3.7\pm 0.4)\%`$ to $`(1.8\pm 0.3)\%`$. We shall see in Sec. V that the form factor for $`DK_0^{}`$ transition extracted from the E791 experiment is more close to the theoretical expectation than that inferred from E691 and E687.
3. The new CLEO and BaBar results on the Cabibbo-allowed decay $`D^0f_0\overline{K}^0`$ are consistent with the early measurements by ARGUS  and E687  quoted in Table I from PDG. The Cabibbo doubly suppressed mode $`D^+f_0K^+`$ was first measured by FOCUS recently.
4. There are four measurements of $`D^0K_0^{}\pi ^+`$: three from $`D^0\overline{K}^0\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ by ARGUS , E687 , CLEO , and one from $`D^0K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$ by CLEO. The CLEO result $`(1.17\pm 0.26)\%`$ for the branching ratio of $`D^0K_0^{}\pi ^+`$ extracted from $`D^0K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$ is in good agreement with ARGUS and E687 (see Table I), while the CLEO number $`(7.0_{1.3}^{+3.1})\times 10^3`$ determined from $`D^0\overline{K}^0\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ is slightly lower.
5. As for $`D_s^+f_0\pi ^+`$, four measured results by E687, E791 and FOCUS are shown in Table I. The old measurement by E687 and two new ones by FOCUS are larger than the E791 one. The preliminary FOCUS measurement indicates that the $`f_0(980)`$ resonance accounts for $`(94.4\pm 3.8)\%`$ of the total $`D_s^+\pi ^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ rate . Later we shall use the average value $`(D_s^+f_0\pi ^+)=(1.8\pm 0.3)\%`$ in Table IV.
6. As stressed in the Introduction, there exist three-body decay modes that are dominated by the scalar resonances. Apart from the decays $`D_s^+f_0\pi ^+`$ and $`D^+\sigma \pi ^+`$ as mentioned in the Introduction, some other examples are $`D_s^+f_0(980)K^+`$ and $`D^+f_0(980)K^+`$ which account for 72% and 44.5%, respectively, of the decays $`D_s^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ and $`D^+K^+K^+K^{}`$ .
7. The production of the resonance $`f_0(1370)`$ in $`D^0\overline{K}^0\pi ^+\pi ^{}f_0(1370)\overline{K}^0`$, $`D^+K^+K^{}\pi ^+f_0(1370)\pi ^+`$ and $`D_s^+\pi ^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}f_0(1370)\pi ^+`$ has been measured by ARGUS, E687, CLEO, by FOCUS and by E791, respectively. Since the branching fractions of $`f_0(1370)`$ into $`\pi ^+\pi ^{},K^+K^{}`$ are unknown, we will not discuss it until Sec. V.D.
8. Some preliminary measurements of $`DSP`$ do not have yet enough statistical significance, for example, the decays $`D^0a_0^\pm \pi ^{},a_0^{}K^+`$ and $`D_s^+\overline{K}_0^0K^+`$.

## III Physical Properties of scalar mesons

The masses and widths of the $`0^+`$ scalar mesons relevant for our purposes are summarized in Table II. The $`\sigma `$ meson observed in $`D^+\pi ^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ decay by E791  has a mass of $`478_{23}^{+24}\pm 17`$ MeV and a width of $`324_{40}^{+42}\pm 21`$ MeV. Recently, the decay $`D^0K_S^0\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ has been analyzed by CLEO . By replacing the nonresonant contribution with a $`K_S^0\sigma `$ component, it is found that $`m_\sigma =513\pm 32`$ MeV and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma =335\pm 67`$ MeV , in accordance with E791. The isodoublet scalar resonance $`\kappa `$ observed in the decay $`D^+K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$ by E791 has a mass of $`797\pm 19\pm 43`$ MeV and a width of $`410\pm 43\pm 87`$ MeV . However, the signal of $`\kappa `$ is much less evident than $`\sigma `$. Indeed, this resonance is not confirmed by CLEO in the Dalitz analysis of the decay $`D^0K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$ . The well established scalars $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$ are narrow, while $`\sigma `$ and $`\kappa `$ are very broad.

### A Quark structure of scalar mesons

It is known that the identification of scalar mesons is difficult experimentally and the underlying structure of scalar mesons is not well established theoretically (for a review, see e.g. ). It has been suggested that the light scalars–the isoscalars $`\sigma (500)`$, $`f_0(980)`$, the isodoublet $`\kappa `$ and the isovector $`a_0(980)`$–form an SU(3) flavor nonet. In the naive quark model, the flavor wave functions of these scalars read

$`\sigma ={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}(u\overline{u}+d\overline{d}),f_0=s\overline{s},`$ (4)
$`a_0^0={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}(u\overline{u}d\overline{d}),a_0^+=u\overline{d},a_0^{}=d\overline{u},`$ (5)
$`\kappa ^+=u\overline{s},\kappa ^0=d\overline{s},\overline{\kappa }^0=s\overline{d},\kappa ^{}=s\overline{u}.`$ (6)
However, this model immediately faces two difficulties:***However, for a different point of view of these difficulties in the $`q\overline{q}`$ picture, see e.g. . (i) It is impossible to understand the mass degeneracy of $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$. (ii) It is hard to explain why $`\sigma `$ and $`\kappa `$ are broader than $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$. Recalling that $`a_0\pi \eta ,\sigma \pi \pi `$ and $`\kappa K\pi `$ are OZI allowed (but not OZI superallowed !) while $`f_0\pi \pi `$ is OZI suppressed as it is mediated by the exchange of two gluons, it is thus expected that $`m_\kappa \mathrm{\Gamma }_\kappa \mathrm{\Gamma }_\sigma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{a_0}>\mathrm{\Gamma }_{f_0}`$, a relation not borne out by experiment.

Although the data of $`D_s^+f_0(980)\pi ^+`$ and $`\varphi f_0(980)\gamma `$ imply the copious $`f_0(980)`$ production via its $`s\overline{s}`$ component, there are some experimental evidences indicating that $`f_0(980)`$ is not purely an $`s\overline{s}`$ state. First, the measurements of $`J/\psi f_0(980)\varphi `$ and $`J/\psi f_0(980)\omega `$

$`(J/\psi f_0(980)\varphi )`$ $`=`$ $`(3.2\pm 0.9)\times 10^4,`$ (7)
$`(J/\psi f_0(980)\omega )`$ $`=`$ $`(1.4\pm 0.5)\times 10^4`$ (8)
clearly indicate the existence of the non-strange and strange quark content in $`f_0(980)`$. Second, the fact that $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$ have similar widths and that the $`f_0`$ width is dominated by $`\pi \pi `$ also suggests the composition of $`u\overline{u}`$ and $`d\overline{d}`$ pairs in $`f_0(980)`$; that is, $`f_0(980)\pi \pi `$ should not be OZI suppressed relative to $`a_0(980)\pi \eta `$. Therefore, isoscalars $`\sigma `$ and $`f_0`$ must have a mixing

$`f_0=s\overline{s}\mathrm{cos}\theta +n\overline{n}\mathrm{sin}\theta ,\sigma `$ $`=`$ $`s\overline{s}\mathrm{sin}\theta +n\overline{n}\mathrm{cos}\theta ,`$ (9)
with $`n\overline{n}(u\overline{u}+d\overline{d})/\sqrt{2}`$.

The $`\sigma f_0(980)`$ mixing angle can be inferred from the decays $`J/\psi f_0(980)\varphi `$ and $`J/\psi f_0(980)\omega `$  It has been shown by the $`f_0(980)`$ production data in $`Z^0`$ decays at OPAL  and DELPHI  that $`f_0(980)`$ is composed essentially of $`u\overline{u}`$ and $`d\overline{d}`$ pairs. This favors a mixing angle close to $`\pi /2`$. However, it is in contradiction to the experimental observation that the final state $`f_0(980)\varphi `$ in hadronic $`J/\psi `$ decays has a larger rate than $`f_0(980)\omega `$.

$`{\displaystyle \frac{(J/\psi f_0(980)\omega )}{(J/\psi f_0(980)\varphi )}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\lambda }}\mathrm{tan}^2\theta ,`$ (10)
where the deviation of the parameter $`\lambda `$ from unity characterizes the suppression of the $`s\overline{s}`$ pair production; that is, $`\lambda =1`$ in the SU(3) limit. From the data (7) we obtain

$`\theta =(34\pm 6)^{},\mathrm{or}\theta =(146\pm 6)^{}`$ (11)
for $`\lambda =1`$. Another information on the mixing angle can be obtained from the $`f_0(980)`$ coupling to $`\pi \pi `$ and $`K\overline{K}`$ :

$`R_g{\displaystyle \frac{g_{f_0K^+K^{}}^2}{g_{f_0\pi ^+\pi ^{}}^2}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}(\lambda +\sqrt{2}\mathrm{cot}\theta )^2.`$ (12)
Using the average value of $`R_g=4.03\pm 0.14`$ obtained from the measurements: $`4.00\pm 0.14`$ by KLOE , $`4.6\pm 0.8`$ by SND  and $`6.1\pm 2.0`$ from CMD-2 , we find

$`\theta =(25.1\pm 0.5)^{},\mathrm{or}\theta =(164.3\pm 0.2)^{}`$ (13)
for $`\lambda =1`$. However, the WA102 experiment on $`f_0(980)`$ production in central $`pp`$ collisions yields a result $`R_g=1.63\pm 0.46`$ , which differs from the aforementioned three measurements. This leads to

$`\theta =(42.3_{5.5}^{+8.3})^{},\mathrm{or}\theta =(158\pm 2)^{},`$ (14)
again for $`\lambda =1`$.

Recently, a phenomenological analysis of the radiative decays $`\varphi f_0(980)\gamma `$ and $`f_0(980)\gamma \gamma `$ yields

$`\theta =(5\pm 5)^{},\mathrm{or}\theta =(138\pm 6)^{}`$ (15)
with the second solution being more preferable . In this analysis, $`\varphi f_0(980)\gamma `$ is calculated at the quark level by considering the $`s\overline{s}`$ quark loop coupled to both $`\varphi `$ and $`f_0(980)`$.It is pointed out in  that the mechanism $`\varphi s\overline{s}s\overline{s}\gamma f_0(980)\gamma `$ without creation of and annihilation of an additional $`u\overline{u}`$ pair cannot explain the $`f_0(980)`$ spectrum observed in $`\varphi \gamma f_0(980)\gamma \pi ^0\pi ^0`$ process because it does not contain the $`K^+K^{}`$ intermediate state. For a criticism of , see also the remark in the footnote  in the first paper of . However, the experimental analysis and the theoretical study of this $`\varphi `$ radiative decay are practically based on the chiral-loop picture, namely, $`\varphi K^+K^{}K^+K^{}\gamma f_0(980)\gamma `$. It turns out that the predicted branching ratio in the $`q\overline{q}`$ picture is at most of order $`5\times 10^5`$ (see e.g. ), while experimentally

$`(\varphi f_0(980)\gamma )=(3.3_{0.5}^{+0.8})\times 10^4.`$ (16)
This is because the $`f_0(980)`$ coupling to $`K^+K^{}`$ is not strong enough as in the case of the four-quark model to be discussed shortly where $`f_0K^+K^{}`$ is OZI superallowed.

In short, it is not clear if there exists a universal mixing angle $`\theta `$ which fits simultaneously to all the measurements from hadronic $`J/\psi `$ decays, the $`f_0(980)`$ coupling to $`\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$ and $`K^+K^{}`$ and the radiative decay $`\varphi f_0(980)\gamma `$ followed by $`f_0\gamma \gamma `$.§§§The analysis of the three-body decays of $`D^+f_0(980)\pi ^+,\overline{K}_0^0(1430)\pi ^+`$ and $`D_s^+f_0(980)\pi ^+`$ gives $`\theta =(42.14_{7.3}^{+5.8})^{}`$ in . However, in this analysis, the weak annihilation contribution has been neglected and SU(3) symmetry has been applied to relate $`f_0\pi `$ to $`K_0^{}\pi `$, a procedure which is not justified since $`f_0`$ and $`K_0^{}`$ belong to different SU(3) flavor nonets (see the discussion in Sec. IV). If the mass parameters $`m_{n\overline{n}}`$ and $`m_{s\overline{s}}`$ are assigned to the $`n\overline{n}`$ and $`s\overline{s}`$ states, respectively, one will have the mass relations: $`m_{n\overline{n}}^2=m_\sigma ^2\mathrm{cos}\theta ^2+m_{f_0}^2\mathrm{sin}\theta ^2`$ and $`m_{s\overline{s}}^2=m_\sigma ^2\mathrm{sin}\theta ^2+m_{f_0}^2\mathrm{cos}\theta ^2`$ from Eq. (9). Inserting the dynamically generated NJL-type masses for $`m_{n\overline{n}}`$ and $`m_{s\overline{s}}`$, it is found in  that $`\theta =\pm (18\pm 2)^{}`$ provided that $`m_\sigma =600`$ MeV.  Eqs. (11) and (15) indicate that $`\theta 140^{}`$ is preferred, while $`\theta 34^{}`$ is also allowed provided that $`R_g`$ is of order 2. At any rate, the above two possible allowed angles imply the dominance of $`s\overline{s}`$ in the $`f_0(980)`$ wave function and $`n\overline{n}`$ in $`\sigma `$. However, as stressed before, the 2-quark picture for $`f_0(980)`$ has the difficulty of explaining the absolute $`\varphi f_0(980)\gamma `$ rate.

As for $`a_0(980)`$, it appears at first sight that one needs an $`s\overline{s}`$ content in $`a_0`$ in order to explain the radiative decay $`\varphi a_0(980)\gamma `$; otherwise, it is OZI suppressed. However, since $`a_0`$ is an isovector while $`s\overline{s}`$ is isoscalar, the mixing of $`(u\overline{u}d\overline{d})`$ with $`s\overline{s}`$ is not allowed in the $`a_0`$ wave function within the 2-quark description.Even in the presence of the hidden $`s\overline{s}`$ content in $`a_0(980)`$ within the 4-quark model, the direct radiative decay $`\varphi a_0(980)\gamma `$ is prohibited owing to the opposite sign between the $`u\overline{u}`$ and $`d\overline{d}`$ components in $`a_0(980)`$. This means that it is necessary to consider the contribution from the $`K^+K^{}`$ intermediate states. Nevertheless, $`\varphi a_0(980)\gamma `$ can proceed through the process $`\varphi K^+K^{}K^+K^{}\gamma a_0(980)\gamma `$ as both $`\varphi `$ and $`a_0(980)`$ couple to $`K^+K^{}`$. Indeed, it has been suggested that both $`a_0(980)`$ and $`f_0(980)`$ can be interpreted as a $`K\overline{K}`$ molecular bound state which is treated as an extended object. Since both $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$ couple strongly to $`K\overline{K}`$ as they are just below the $`K\overline{K}`$ threshold, they can be imagined as an $`s\overline{s}`$ and $`n\overline{n}`$ core states, respectively, surrounded by a virtual $`K\overline{K}`$ cloud . In this $`K\overline{K}`$ molecular picture, one can explain the decay $`f_0\pi \pi `$ without the light non-strange quark content in $`f_0(980)`$ and the decay $`\varphi a_0(980)\gamma `$ without the need of an intrinsic strange quark component in $`a_0`$; both decays are allowed by the OZI rule in the sense that only one gluon exchange is needed.

However, there are several difficulties with this $`K\overline{K}`$ molecular picture. First, the $`K\overline{K}`$ molecular width is less than its binding energy of order 20 MeV , while the measured widths of $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$ lie in the range of 40 to 100 MeV . Second, it is expected in this model that $`(\varphi f_0(980)\gamma )/(\varphi a_0(980)\gamma )1`$, while this ratio is measured to be $`3.8\pm 1.0`$ . (The most recent result is $`6.1\pm 0.6`$ by KLOE .) Third, the predicted branching ratios for both $`\varphi f_0(980)\gamma `$ and $`\varphi a_0(980)\gamma `$ are only of order $`10^5`$  which are too small compared to (16) and

$`(\varphi a_0(980)\gamma )=(0.88\pm 0.17)\times 10^4.`$ (17)
Alternatively, the aforementioned difficultiesLikewise, it has been argued in the literature that $`\sigma `$ is not a $`q\overline{q}`$ state . Furthermore, the QCD sum rule calculation also indicates that the lightest scalars are nearly decoupled from $`q\overline{q}`$, suggesting a non-$`q\overline{q}`$ structure . In short, one always has some troubles when the light scalar mesons are identified as $`q\overline{q}`$ states. with $`a_0`$ and $`f_0`$ can be circumvented in the four-quark model in which one writes symbolically

$`\sigma =ud\overline{u}\overline{d},f_0=(us\overline{u}\overline{s}+ds\overline{d}\overline{s})/\sqrt{2},`$ (18)
$`a_0^0=(us\overline{u}\overline{s}ds\overline{d}\overline{s})/\sqrt{2},a_0^+=us\overline{d}\overline{s},a_0^{}=ds\overline{u}\overline{s},`$ (19)
$`\kappa ^+=ud\overline{d}\overline{s},\kappa ^0=ud\overline{u}\overline{s},\overline{\kappa }^0=us\overline{u}\overline{d},\kappa ^{}=ds\overline{u}\overline{d}.`$ (20)
This is supported by a recent lattice calculation . This $`q^2\overline{q}^2`$ scenario for light scalars has several major advantages: (i) The mass degeneracy of $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$ is natural and the mass hierarchy pattern of the SU(3) nonet is understandable. (ii) Why $`\sigma `$ and $`\kappa `$ are broader than $`f_0`$ and $`a_0`$ can be explained. The decays $`\sigma \pi \pi `$, $`\kappa K\pi `$ and $`f_0,a_0K\overline{K}`$ are OZI superallowed without the need of any gluon exchange, while $`f_0\pi \pi `$ and $`a_0\pi \eta `$ are OZI allowed as it is mediated by one gluon exchange. Since $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$ are very close to the $`K\overline{K}`$ threshold, the $`f_0(980)`$ width is dominated by the $`\pi \pi `$ state and $`a_0`$ governed by the $`\pi \eta `$ state. Consequently, their widths are narrower than $`\sigma `$ and $`\kappa `$. (iii) It predicts the relation

$`{\displaystyle \frac{(J/\psi f_0(980)\omega )}{(J/\psi f_0(980)\varphi )}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}},`$ (21)
which is in good agreement with the experimental value of $`0.44\pm 0.20`$ . (iv) The coupling of $`f_0`$ and $`a_0`$ to $`K\overline{K}`$ is strong enough as the strong decays $`f_0K\overline{K}`$ and $`a_0K\overline{K}`$ are OZI supperallowed. Consequently, the branching ratio of $`\varphi (f_0,a_0)\gamma `$ can be as large as of order $`10^4`$ .\**\**\**Just as in the $`K\overline{K}`$ molecular model, the ratio $`r(\varphi f_0\gamma )/(\varphi a_0\gamma )`$ is also an issue in the four-quark model in which $`g_{f_0K^+K^{}}=g_{a_0K^+K^{}}`$ and hence $`(\varphi f_0\gamma )=(\varphi a_0\gamma )`$ is predicted, in disagreement with the observed value of $`3.8\pm 1.0`$ . Close and Kirk  proposed that $`r`$ can be explained by considering a large $`a_0f_0`$ mixing. However, as pointed out in , the isospin-violating $`a_0f_0`$ mixing is small, analogous to the smallness of $`\pi ^0\eta \eta ^{}`$ mixing, and its correction to $`r`$ amounts to at most a few percent. One possibility for a large $`r`$ is that the superposition of the 4-quark state and $`K\overline{K}`$ has a different weight in $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$. (v) It is concluded in  that production of $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$ in the $`\varphi \gamma f_0(980)\gamma \pi ^0\pi ^0`$ and $`\varphi \gamma a_0(980)\gamma \pi ^0\eta `$ decays is caused by the four-quark transitions, resulting in strong restrictions on the large-$`N_c`$ expansions of the decay amplitudes. The analysis shows that these constraints give new evidences in favor of the four-quark picture of $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$ mesons.

Therefore, it appears that the four-quark state in core with the $`K\overline{K}`$ in the outer regime gives a more realistic description of the light scalar mesons. If scalar mesons near and below 1 GeV are non-$`q\overline{q}`$ states, then the $`0^+`$ mesons in the $`1.31.7`$ GeV mass region may be more conventional. For example, it is natural to assume that $`f_0(1370)`$, $`a_0(1450)`$, $`K_0^{}(1430)`$ and $`f_0(1500)/f_0(1710)`$ are in the same SU(3) flavor nonet in the states $`n\overline{n}`$, $`u\overline{d}`$, $`u\overline{s}`$ and $`s\overline{s}`$, respectively . In other words, they may have a simple $`q\overline{q}`$ interpretation. A global picture emerged from above discussions is as follows: The scalar meson states above 1 GeV form a $`q\overline{q}`$ nonet with some possible mixing with glueballs, whereas the light scalar mesons below or near 1 GeV form predominately a $`qq\overline{q}\overline{q}`$ nonet with a possible mixing with $`0^+`$ $`q\overline{q}`$ and glueball states (see also ). This is understandable because in the $`q\overline{q}`$ quark model, the $`0^+`$ meson has a unit of orbital angular momentum and hence it should have a higher mass above 1 GeV. On the contrary, four quarks $`q^2\overline{q}^2`$ can form a $`0^+`$ meson without introducing a unit of orbital angular momentum. Moreover, color and spin dependent interactions favor a flavor nonet configuration with attraction between the $`qq`$ and $`\overline{q}\overline{q}`$ pairs. Therefore, the $`0^+`$ $`qq\overline{q}\overline{q}`$ nonet has a mass near or below 1 GeV.

It is conceivable that the two-quark and four-quark descriptions of light scalars, especially $`f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$, may lead to some different implications for the hadronic weak decays of charmed mesons into the final state containing a scalar meson. This will be explored in Sec. V.

### B Decay constants

The scalar mesons under consideration are $`\sigma (500)`$, $`\kappa `$, $`f_0(980)`$, $`a_0(980)`$ and $`K_0^{}(1430)`$. The decay constants of scalar and pseudoscalar mesons are defined by

$`0|A_\mu |P(q)`$ $`=`$ $`if_Pq_\mu ,0|V_\mu |S(q)=f_Sq_\mu .`$ (22)
For the neutral scalars $`\sigma `$, $`f_0`$ and $`a_0^0`$, the decay constant must be zero owing to charge conjugation invariance or conservation of vector current:

$`f_\sigma =f_{f_0}=f_{a_0^0}=0.`$ (23)
Applying the equation of motion, it is easily seen that the decay constant of $`K_0^+`$ ($`a_0^+`$) is proportional to the mass difference between the constituent $`s`$ ($`d`$) and $`u`$ quarks. Contrary to the case of pseudoscalar mesons, the decay constant of the scalar meson vanishes in the SU(3) limit or even in the isospin limit. Therefore, the decay constant of $`K_0^{}(1430)`$ and the charged $`a_0(980)`$ is suppressed. We shall use the values

$`f_{a_0^\pm }=1.1\mathrm{MeV},f_{K_0^{}}=42\mathrm{MeV}`$ (24)
obtained from the finite-energy sum rules . (A different calculation of the scalar meson decay constants based on the generalized NLJ model is given in .) Since they are derived using the $`q\overline{q}`$ quark model, it is not clear if the $`a_0^\pm `$ decay constant remains the same in the $`q^2\overline{q}^2`$ picture, though it is generally expected that the decay constant is suppressed in the latter scenario because a four-quark state is larger than a two-quark state .

As for the decay constant of $`\kappa `$, we apply the equation of motion to Eq. (22) to obtain

$`m_{a_0}^2f_{a_0}=i(m_dm_u)a_0^{}|\overline{d}u|0,m_\kappa ^2f_\kappa =i(m_sm_u)\kappa ^{}|\overline{s}u|0,`$ (25)
and assume $`\kappa ^{}|\overline{s}u|0a_0^{}|\overline{d}u|0`$. It follows that $`f_\kappa 65`$ MeV for $`m_u=4.8`$ MeV, $`m_d=8.7`$ MeV, $`m_s=164`$ MeV  and $`m_\kappa =800`$ MeV. In short, the decay constants of scalar mesons are either zero or very small.

### C Form factors

Form factors for $`DP`$ and $`DS`$ transitions are defined by

$`P(p)|V_\mu |D(p_D)`$ $`=`$ $`\left(p_{D\mu }+p_\mu {\displaystyle \frac{m_D^2m_P^2}{q^2}}q_\mu \right)F_1^{DP}(q^2)+{\displaystyle \frac{m_D^2m_P^2}{q^2}}q_\mu F_0^{DP}(q^2),`$ (26)
$`S(p)|A_\mu |D(p_D)`$ $`=`$ $`i\left[\left(p_{D\mu }+p_\mu {\displaystyle \frac{m_D^2m_S^2}{q^2}}q_\mu \right)F_1^{DS}(q^2)+{\displaystyle \frac{m_D^2m_S^2}{q^2}}q_\mu F_0^{DS}(q^2)\right],`$ (27)
where $`q_\mu =(p_Dp)_\mu `$. The form factors relevant for $`DSP`$ decays are $`F_0^{DP}(q^2)`$ and $`F_0^{DS}(q^2)`$. For $`DP`$ form factors, we will use the Melikhov-Stech (MS) model  based on the constituent quark picture. Other form factor models give similar results.

As discussed in Sec. III.A, the light scalar mesons $`\sigma ,\kappa ,f_0(980)`$ and $`a_0(980)`$ are predominately $`q^2\overline{q}^2`$, while $`K_0^{}`$ is described by the $`q\overline{q}`$ state. Nevertheless, it is useful to see what are the predictions of $`DS`$ form factors in the conventional quark model. There are some existing calculations of the form factor $`F_0^{DS}(0)`$ in the literature (see Table III). Paver and Riazuddin  obtained $`F_0^{D\sigma }(0)=0.74(f_D/200\mathrm{MeV})`$. Gatto et al. got $`F_0^{D\sigma }(0)=0.57\pm 0.09`$  using the constituent quark model (CQM). Based on the same model, Deandrea et al.  obtained $`F_0^{D_s^+f_0}(0)=0.64_{0.03}^{+0.05}`$ assuming a pure $`s\overline{s}`$ state for $`f_0`$. A value of $`F_0^{D_s^+f_0}(m_\pi ^2)=0.36_{0.08}^{+0.06}`$ is obtained by Gourdin, Keum and Pham  based on a fit to the old data of $`D_s^+f_0(980)\pi ^+`$. The $`Ba_0`$ form factor is estimated by Chernyak  to be $`F_0^{Ba_0}(0)0.46`$. Using the scaling law, it leads to $`F_0^{Da_0}(0)F_0^{Ba_0}(0)\sqrt{m_B/m_D}=0.77`$. Since the conventional quark model is not applicable to light scalars with four-quark content, we shall use the measured decay rates to extract the $`DS`$ form factors (except for $`Da_0`$) in Sec. V and the results are summarized in Table III.

In the $`q\overline{q}`$ description of $`f_0(980)`$, it follows from Eq. (9) that

$`F_0^{D^0f_0}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}\mathrm{sin}\theta F_0^{D^0f_0^{u\overline{u}}},F_0^{D^+f_0}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}\mathrm{sin}\theta F_0^{D^+f_0^{d\overline{d}}},F_0^{D_s^+f_0}=\mathrm{cos}\theta F_0^{D_s^+f_0^{s\overline{s}}},`$ (28)
where the superscript $`q\overline{q}`$ denotes the quark content of $`f_0`$ involved in the transition. In the limit of SU(3) symmetry, $`F_0^{D^0f_0^{u\overline{u}}}=F_0^{D^+f_0^{d\overline{d}}}=F_0^{D_s^+f_0^{s\overline{s}}}`$ and hence

$`F_0^{D^0f_0}=F_0^{D^+f_0}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}F_0^{D_s^+f_0}\mathrm{tan}\theta .`$ (29)
In the four-quark picture, one has (see Fig. 1)

$`F_0^{Df_0}(0)={\displaystyle \frac{\lambda }{2}}F_0^{D_s^+f_0}(0),`$ (30)
where use of the $`f_0(980)`$ flavor function $`s\overline{s}(u\overline{u}+d\overline{d})/\sqrt{2}`$ has been made. For $`\theta 34^{}`$, we see that the relation between $`F_0^{Df_0}`$ and $`F_0^{D_s^+f_0}`$ is very similar in the $`q\overline{q}`$ and $`q^2\overline{q}^2`$ pictures, but if $`\theta 140^{}`$ then $`F_0^{Df_0}`$ will have an opposite sign to $`F_0^{D_s^+f_0}`$ in the former model.

To compute the $`DS`$ form factors using the $`q\overline{q}`$ model, it is worth mentioning the Isgur-Scora-Grinstein-Wise (ISGW) model  and its improved version the ISGW2 model . Contrary to the above-mentioned form-factor calculations shown in Table III, the form factors of interest in the ISGW model are $`F_1^{DS}`$ evaluated at $`q^2=q_m^2(m_Dm_S)^2`$, the maximum momentum transfer, recalling that $`F_1(0)=F_0(0)`$. The reason for considering the form factor at zero recoil is that the form-factor $`q^2`$ dependence in the ISGW model is proportional to Exp\[$`(q_m^2q^2)`$\]. Hence, the form factor decreases exponentially as a function of $`(q_m^2q^2)`$. Consequently, the form factor is unreasonably small at $`q^2=0`$. This has been improved in the ISGW2 model in which the form factor has a more realistic behavior at large $`(q_m^2q^2)`$. However, we find that form factors in the ISGW2 model calculated even at zero recoil are already small compared to the other model calculations at $`q^2=0`$. For example, $`F_1^{Da_0}`$ and $`F_1^{D_sK_0^{}}`$ at zero recoil are found to be 0.52 and 0.29 respectively in the ISGW model and 0.12 as well as 0.09 respectively in the ISGW2 model. These form factors become even much smaller at $`q^2=0`$. Therefore, the ISGW model and especially the ISGW2 version predict much smaller $`DS`$ form factors than other quark models.

For the $`q^2`$ dependence of the $`DS`$ form factors, we shall assume the pole dominance:

$`F_0^{DS}(q^2)={\displaystyle \frac{F_0^{DS}(0)}{1q^2/m_{}^2}},`$ (31)
with $`m_{}`$ being the mass of the $`0^{}`$ pole state with the same quark content of the current under consideration.

In the MS  or the BSW  model, the typical $`DP`$ form factors have the values $`F_0^{D\pi ^\pm }(0)=0.69`$ and $`F_0^{DK}(0)=0.78`$. In general, it is conceivable that the form factor for $`D\sigma `$ transition is comparable to the $`D\pi ^0`$ one. The argument goes as follows. If the scalar meson is made from $`q\overline{q}`$, its distribution amplitude has the form

$`\varphi _S(x)=6f_Sx(1x)\left[1+{\displaystyle \underset{n=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}B_nC_n^{3/2}(2x1)\right],`$ (32)
where $`f_S`$ is the decay constant of the scalar meson $`S`$, $`B_n`$ are constants, and $`C_n^{3/2}`$ is the Gegenbauer polynomial. For the isosinglet scalar mesons $`\sigma `$ and $`f_0`$, their decay constants vanish, but the combination $`f_SB_n`$ can be nonzero. For $`\sigma `$, $`f_0`$ and $`a_0^0`$, charge conjugation invariance implies that $`\varphi (x)=\varphi (1x)`$; that is, the distribution amplitude vanishes at $`x=1/2`$. Using $`|f_SB_1|`$ 75 MeV obtained in , we have

$`\varphi _\sigma (x)6\stackrel{~}{B}_1x(1x)(36x),`$ (33)
where $`\stackrel{~}{B}_1=f_SB_1`$. It is clear that the $`\sigma `$ distribution amplitude peaks at $`x=0.25`$ and $`0.75`$. Now the $`D`$ meson wave function is peaked at $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }/m_D1/3`$ . Recall that the asymptotic pion distribution amplitude has the familiar expression

$`\varphi _\pi (x)=6f_\pi x(1x),`$ (34)
which has a peak at $`x=1/2`$. Though $`\stackrel{~}{B}_1`$ is smaller than $`f_\pi `$, it is anticipated that the $`D\sigma `$ transition form factor is similar to that of $`D\pi ^0`$ one because the peak of $`\varphi _\sigma `$ is close to that of the $`D`$ distribution amplitude. However, it is not clear if this argument still holds for the scalar mesons which are bound states of $`q^2\overline{q}^2`$.

For $`K_0^{}(1430)`$, the distribution amplitude reads

$`\varphi _{K_0^{}}(x)6f_{K_0^{}}x(1x)\left[1+B_1(36x)\right].`$ (35)
It is easy to check that $`\varphi _{K_0^{}}`$ has a large peak at $`x=0.25`$ and a small peak at $`x=0.75`$. Consequently, it is natural to have a large $`DK_0^{}`$ transition form factor as shown in Table III. Another argument favoring a large $`DK_0^{}`$ form factor is as follows (see ). Consider the decay $`D^0K_0^{}\pi ^+`$ and apply PCAC to evaluate the matrix element $`q^\mu K_0^{}|\overline{s}\gamma _\mu (1\gamma _5)c|D^0`$. Assuming that this two-body matrix element is saturated by the $`D_s^+`$ pole, we find

$`\pi ^+|(\overline{u}d)|0K_0^{}|(\overline{s}c)|D^0=i\sqrt{2}f_\pi f_{D_s}g_{K_0^{}D^0D_s^+}{\displaystyle \frac{m_{D_s}^2}{m_{D_s}^2q^2}}.`$ (36)
Next apply the SU(4) symmetry to relate strong coupling of $`K_0^{}D^0D_s^+`$ to $`K_0^{}\pi ^+\overline{K}^0`$

$`g_{K_0^{}D^0D_s^+}=g_{K_0^{}\pi ^+\overline{K}^0}.`$ (37)
The coupling $`g_{K_0^{}\pi ^+\overline{K}^0}`$ can be determined from the measured decay rate of $`K_0^{}\overline{K}^0\pi ^{}`$ via

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }(K_0^{}\overline{K}^0\pi ^{})=g_{K_0^{}\pi ^+\overline{K}^0}^2{\displaystyle \frac{p_c}{8\pi m_{K_0^{}}^2}},`$ (38)
where $`p_c`$ is the c.m. momentum in the $`K_0^{}`$ rest frame. Using the $`K_0^{}`$ width given in Table II, we obtain $`g_{K_0^{}\pi ^+\overline{K}^0}=4.9`$ GeV. Since

$`\pi ^+|(\overline{u}d)|0K_0^{}|(\overline{s}c)|D^0=f_\pi (m_D^2m_{K_0^{}}^2)F_0^{DK_0^{}}(m_\pi ^2),`$ (39)
it follows that

$`F_0^{DK_0^{}}(m_\pi ^2)=\sqrt{2}{\displaystyle \frac{g_{K_0^{}\pi ^+\overline{K}^0}f_{D_s^+}}{m_D^2m_{K_0^{}}^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{m_{D_s}^2}{m_{D_s}^2m_\pi ^2}}=1.23\left({\displaystyle \frac{f_{D_s^+}}{270\mathrm{MeV}}}\right).`$ (40)
This is consistent with the value of $`1.20\pm 0.07`$ extracted directly from $`D^+\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^+`$ (see Sec. V.A).

## IV Quark diagram scheme and final-state interactions

It has been established sometime ago that a least model-independent analysis of heavy meson decays can be carried out in the so-called quark-diagram approach. In this diagrammatic scenario, all two-body nonleptonic weak decays of heavy mesons can be expressed in terms of six distinct quark diagrams : $`T`$, the color-allowed external $`W`$-emission tree diagram; $`C`$, the color-suppressed internal $`W`$-emission diagram; $`E`$, the $`W`$-exchange diagram; $`A`$, the $`W`$-annihilation diagram; $`P`$, the horizontal $`W`$-loop diagram; and $`V`$, the vertical $`W`$-loop diagram. (The one-gluon exchange approximation of the $`P`$ graph is the so-called “penguin diagram”.) It should be stressed that these quark diagrams are classified according to the topologies of weak interactions with all strong interaction effects included and hence they are not Feynman graphs. All quark graphs used in this approach are topological and meant to have all the strong interactions included, i.e. gluon lines are included in all possible ways. Therefore, topological graphs can provide information on final-state interactions (FSIs).

Based on the SU(3) flavor symmetry, this model-independent analysis enables us to extract the topological quark-graph amplitudes and see the relative importance of different underlying decay mechanisms. The quark-diagram scheme, in addition to be helpful in organizing the theoretical calculations, can be used to analyze the experimental data directly. When enough measurements are made with sufficient accuracy, we can find out the values of each quark-diagram amplitude from experiment and compare to theoretical results, especially checking whether there are any final-state interactions or whether the weak annihilations can be ignored as often asserted in the literature.

For charmed meson decays, the penguin contributions are negligible owing to the good approximation $`V_{ud}V_{cd}^{}V_{us}V_{cs}^{}`$ and the smallness of $`V_{ub}V_{cb}^{}`$. Hence, for $`DPP,VP,VV`$ decays, only $`T`$, $`C`$, $`E`$ and $`A`$ contribute. The reduced quark-graph amplitudes $`T,C,E,A`$ have been extracted from Cabibbo-allowed $`DPP`$ decays by Rosner  with the results:

$`T`$ $`=`$ $`(2.67\pm 0.20)\times 10^6\mathrm{GeV},`$ (41)
$`C`$ $`=`$ $`(2.03\pm 0.15)\mathrm{Exp}[i(151\pm 4)^{}]\times 10^6\mathrm{GeV},`$ (42)
$`E`$ $`=`$ $`(1.67\pm 0.13)\mathrm{Exp}[i(115\pm 5)^{}]\times 10^6\mathrm{GeV},`$ (43)
$`A`$ $`=`$ $`(1.05\pm 0.52)\mathrm{Exp}[i(65\pm 30)^{}]\times 10^6\mathrm{GeV}.`$ (44)
Hence, the weak annihilation ($`W`$-exchange $`E`$ or $`W`$-annihilation $`A`$) amplitude has a sizable magnitude comparable to the color-suppressed internal $`W`$-emission amplitude $`C`$ with a large phase relative to the tree amplitude $`T`$. As discussed in , it receives long-distance contributions from nearby resonance via inelastic final-state interactions from the leading tree or color-suppressed amplitude. The effects of resonance-induced FSIs can be described in a model independent manner and are governed by the masses and decay widths of the nearby resonances. Weak annihilation topologies in $`DPP`$ decays are dominated by nearby scalar resonances via final-state resacttering. The relative phase between the tree and color-suppressed amplitudes arises from the final-state rescattering via quark exchange. This can be evaluated by considering the $`t`$-channel chiral-loop contribution or by applying the Regge pole method (for details, see ).

For $`DSP`$ decays, there are several new features. First, one can have two different external $`W`$-emission and internal $`W`$-emission diagrams, depending on whether the emission particle is a scalar meson or a pseudoscalar one. We thus denote the prime amplitudes $`T^{}`$ and $`C^{}`$ for the case when the scalar meson is an emitted particle. The quark-diagram amplitudes for various $`DSP`$ decays are listed in Table IV. Second, because of the smallness of the decay constant of the scalar meson as discussed before, it is expected that $`|T^{}||T|`$ and $`|C^{}||C|`$. A noticeable example is the decay $`D^0K^{}a_0^+`$. Its branching ratio is naively predicted to be of order $`10^6`$, which is strongly suppressed compared to the counterpart decay $`D^0K^{}\pi ^+`$ in the $`PP`$ sector. Experimentally, $`K^{}a_0^+`$ has a branching ratio comparable to $`K^{}\pi ^+`$. This implies the importance of the $`W`$-exchange term in $`D^0K^{}a_0^+`$. Third, since $`K_0^{}`$ and the light scalars $`\sigma ,\kappa ,f_0,a_0`$ fall into two different SU(3) flavor nonets, one cannot apply SU(3) symmetry to relate the topological amplitudes in $`D^+f_0\pi ^+`$ to, for example, those in $`D^+\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^+`$. Note that in flavor SU(3) limit, the primed amplitudes $`T^{}`$ and $`C^{}`$ diminish in the factorization approach due to the vanishing decay constants of scalar mesons.

Just as in $`DPP`$ decays, the topological weak annihilation amplitudes $`E`$ and $`A`$, which are naively expected to be helicity suppressed, can receive large long-distance final-state interaction contributions. For example, there is a contribution to the $`W`$-exchange amplitude $`E`$ of $`D^0\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^0`$ from the color-allowed decay $`D^0K_0^{}\pi ^+`$ followed by a resonant-like rescattering. As discussed in , Fig. 1 manifested at the hadron level receives a $`s`$-channel resonant contribution from, for example, the $`0^{}`$ resonance $`K(1830)`$ and a $`t`$-channel contribution with one-particle exchange. Likewise, the $`W`$-exchange term in $`D^0a_0^\pm \pi ^{}`$ receives the $`\pi (1800)`$ resonance contribution.

## V Generalized factorization and Analysis

We will study $`DSP`$ decays within the framework of generalized factorization in which the hadronic decay amplitude is expressed in terms of factorizable contributions multiplied by the universal (i.e. process independent) effective parameters $`a_i`$ that are renormalization scale and scheme independent. More precisely, the weak Hamiltonian has the form

$`H_{\mathrm{eff}}={\displaystyle \frac{G_F}{\sqrt{2}}}V_{cq_1}V_{uq_2}^{}\left[a_1(\overline{u}q_2)(\overline{q}_1c)+a_2(\overline{q}_1q_2)(\overline{u}c)\right]+h.c.,`$ (45)
with $`(\overline{q}_1q_2)\overline{q}_1\gamma _\mu (1\gamma _5)q_2`$. For hadronic charm decays, we shall use $`a_1=1.15`$ and $`a_2=0.55`$ . The parameters $`a_1`$ and $`a_2`$ are related to the Wilson coefficients via

$`a_1=c_1(\mu )+c_2(\mu )\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{N_c}}+\chi _1(\mu )\right),a_2=c_2(\mu )+c_1(\mu )\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{N_c}}+\chi _2(\mu )\right),`$ (46)
where the nonfactorizable terms $`\chi _i(\mu )`$ will compensate the scale and scheme dependence of Wilson coefficients $`c_i(\mu )`$ to render $`a_i`$ physical.

### A $`DK_0^{}(1430)\pi `$

Among the four measured $`DK_0^{}\pi `$ modes: $`D^+\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^+`$, $`D^0K_0^{}\pi ^+,\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^0`$ and $`D_s^+K_0^{}\pi ^+`$, only the first one does not involve weak annihilation and hence it can be used to fix the form factor for $`DK_0^{}`$ transition. More precisely,

$`A(D^+\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^+)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{G_F}{\sqrt{2}}}V_{cs}V_{ud}^{}[a_1f_\pi (m_D^2m_{K_0^{}}^2)F_0^{DK_0^{}}(m_\pi ^2)`$ (47)
$`+`$ $`a_2f_{K_0^{}}(m_D^2m_\pi ^2)F_0^{D\pi }(m_{K_0^{}}^2)].`$ (48)
From a fit to the E791 result $`(D^+\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^+)=(1.8\pm 0.3)\%`$ (see Table I), we obtain

$`F_0^{DK_0^{}}(0)=1.20\pm 0.07.`$ (49)
As explained in Sec. II, the E791 analysis for $`D^+K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^+`$ has included the scalar contribution from the $`\kappa `$ resonance and found a better improved fit. If the PDG value of $`(3.7\pm 0.4)\%`$ for the branching ratio of $`D^+\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^+`$ is employed , we will get a too large form factor of order 1.60 .

Under the factorization approximation, the factorizable amplitudes of other $`DK_0^{}\pi `$ decays read

$`A(D^0K_0^{}\pi ^+)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{G_F}{\sqrt{2}}}V_{cs}V_{ud}^{}\left[a_1f_\pi (m_D^2m_{K_0^{}}^2)F_0^{DK_0^{}}(m_\pi ^2)+a_2K_0^{}\pi ^+|(\overline{s}d)|00|(\overline{u}c)|D^0\right],`$ (50)
$`A(D^0\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{G_F}{2}}V_{cs}V_{ud}^{}a_2\left[f_{K_0^{}}(m_D^2m_\pi ^2)F_0^{D\pi }(m_{K_0^{}}^2)+K_0^{}\pi ^+|(\overline{s}d)|00|(\overline{u}c)|D^0\right],`$ (51)
$`A(D_s^+K_0^0\pi ^+)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{G_F}{\sqrt{2}}}a_1[V_{cd}V_{ud}^{}f_\pi (m_D^2m_{K_0^{}}^2)F_0^{DK_0^{}}(m_\pi ^2)`$ (52)
$`+`$ $`V_{cs}V_{us}^{}K_0^0\pi ^+|(\overline{u}d)|00|(\overline{s}c)|D_s^+].`$ (53)
The factorizable (or short-distance) weak annihilation contribution is conventionally argued to be helicity suppressed.

We see from Table IV that the predictions for $`D^0K_0^{}\pi ^+`$ and $`D_s^+K_0^0\pi ^+`$ are in agreement with experiment, whereas $`D^0\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^0`$ and $`D_s^+\overline{K}_0^0K^+`$ are too small by an order of magnitude. The latter implies the importance of long-distance weak annihilation contributions induced from FSIs. If we assume that the relative phase and magnitude of the $`W`$-exchange amplitude $`E`$ and the $`W`$-annihilation amplitude $`A`$ relative to the external $`W`$-emission amplitude $`T`$ are the same as in the case of $`DPP`$ decays, namely,

$`E/T0.63e^{i115^{}},A/T0.39e^{i65^{}},`$ (54)
we find that $`D^0\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^0`$ and $`D_s^+\overline{K}_0^0K^+`$ are enhanced by an order of magnitude, while $`D^0K_0^{}\pi ^+`$ and $`D_s^+K_0^0\pi ^+`$ are affected only slightly.

### B $`D^+\kappa \pi ^+`$

As noticed in passing, although the decay $`D^+\kappa \pi ^+`$ has very similar topological quark amplitudes as $`D^+\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^+`$ (see Table IV), they cannot be related to each other via SU(3) symmetry as $`\kappa `$ and $`K_0^{}`$ belong to two different SU(3) flavor nonets. Using the decay constant $`f_\kappa =65`$ MeV as estimated in Sec. III.B, we find that $`F_0^{D\kappa }(0)=0.85\pm 0.10`$ from the measured $`D^+\kappa \pi ^+`$ rate. If the decay constant is negligible, then the form fcator will become smaller, $`F_0^{D\kappa }(0)=0.64\pm 0.10`$, due to the absence of a destructive contribution from $`C^{}`$.

### C $`D^+\sigma \pi ^+`$

Neglecting $`W`$-annihilation and taking $`m_\sigma =500`$ MeV, the form factor $`F_0^{D\sigma }`$ extracted from $`D^+\sigma \pi ^+`$ reads

$`F_0^{D\sigma }(0)=0.42\pm 0.05.`$ (55)
This is quite different from the fit value $`0.8\pm 0.2`$ obtained in  using the E791 data for $`D^+\pi ^+\pi ^+\pi ^{}`$  and the Breit-Wigner description of the $`\sigma `$ resonance. Note that in the conventional quark model, the $`\sigma `$ flavor wave function is given by $`(u\overline{u}+d\overline{d})/\sqrt{2}`$, while it is $`u\overline{u}d\overline{d}`$ in the four-quark picture. Therefore, in the SU(3) symmetry limit, the ratio of $`|A(D^+\sigma \pi ^+)/A(D^+\kappa \pi ^+)|^2`$ is $`|V_{cd}/V_{cs}|^2`$ if $`\sigma `$ is made of four quarks, while it will be two times smaller if $`\sigma `$ is a $`q\overline{q}`$ state.

### D $`Df_0(980)\pi ,f_0(980)K`$

Since the $`W`$-annihilation contribution is smaller than the $`W`$-exchange one in $`DPP`$ decays \[see Eq.(41)\], we will neglect the $`W`$-annihilation amplitude $`A`$ as a first approximation and determine the $`Df_0`$ form factor from experiment. We will choose $`D_s^+f_0\pi ^+`$ or $`D_s^+f_0K^+`$ rather than $`D^+f_0K^+`$ to extract $`F_0^{Df_0}(0)`$. The reason is as follows. In the SU(3) limit, it is expected that (see Table IV)

$`{\displaystyle \frac{(D_s^+f_0\pi ^+)}{(D_s^+f_0K^+)}}=\left|{\displaystyle \frac{V_{ud}}{V_{us}}}\right|^2.`$ (56)
It is easily seen that this relation is borne out by experiment. In contrast, the relation

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(D^+f_0K^+)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(D_s^+f_0K^+)}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\left|{\displaystyle \frac{V_{cd}}{V_{cs}}}\right|^2`$ (57)
is different from the experimental ratio which is close to $`|V_{cd}/V_{cs}|^2`$. This implies that the decay rate of $`D^+f_0K^+`$ inferred from FOCUS  is probably too large by a factor of 4. Indeed, since this mode is Cabibbo doubly suppressed, it is unlikely that its branching ratio is of the same order as the Cabibbo singly suppressed one $`D^+f_0\pi ^+`$. At any rate, it is important to check this mode soon. From the decay $`D_s^+f_0\pi ^+`$, we obtain

$`F_0^{D_s^+f_0}(0)=0.52\pm 0.04`$ (58)
and hence $`F_0^{Df_0}(0)=0.26\pm 0.02`$ from Eq. (30).

Since we have neglected the $`W`$-annihilation contribution in the process of extracting the form factor $`F_0^{D_s^+f_0}(0)`$, we will consistently ignore this contribution in all $`(D,D_s^+)f_0\pi ,f_0K`$ decays listed in Table IV. It is clear from this Table that one needs a sizable $`W`$-exchange to account for $`D^0f_0\overline{K}^0`$. One can utilize this mode to fix the amplitude $`E`$ to be

$`E/T0.40e^{i100^{}},`$ (59)
where we have assumed a phase of $`100^{}`$ of the $`W`$-exchange term relative to the tree amplitude.

As for the decay $`D^+f_0\pi ^+`$, the factorizable internal $`W`$-emission amplitude is absent owing to a vanishing $`f_0`$ decay constant. Nevertheless, it does receive long-distance contribution via final-state rescattering, see Fig. 3. Since $`V_{cs}V_{us}^{}V_{cd}V_{ud}^{}`$ and the amplitude $`C^{}`$ is governed by $`a_2`$, the amplitude $`V_{cd}V_{ud}^{}C^{}/\sqrt{2}+V_{cs}V_{us}^{}\sqrt{2}C^{}V_{cd}V_{ud}^{}C^{}/\sqrt{2}`$ will give a constructive contribution and enhance slightly the decay rate of $`D^+f_0\pi ^+`$. At any rate, the agreement between theory and experiment for this mode implies that the form factor for $`D^+f_0`$ is indeed smaller than the one for $`D_s^+f_0`$.

If $`f_0(980)`$ is made from $`q\overline{q}`$, the ratio of $`D^+f_0K^+`$ to $`D_s^+f_0K^+`$ will be

$`{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(D^+f_0K^+)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(D_s^+f_0K^+)}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{tan}^2\theta \left|{\displaystyle \frac{V_{cd}}{V_{cs}}}\right|^2.`$ (60)
For $`\theta 34^{}`$ (see Sec. III.A), it is easily seen that the two-quark relation (60) is similar to (57) for the four-quark case. However, for $`\theta 140^{}`$ as favored by hadronic $`J/\psi `$ decays and the radiative decays $`\varphi f_0(980)\gamma `$, $`f_0(980)\gamma \gamma `$, the $`n\overline{n}`$ and $`s\overline{s}`$ components in the $`q\overline{q}`$ wave function of $`f_0(980)`$ have opposite signs. This means that the interference between the tree amplitude $`T`$ and the $`W`$-annihilation amplitude $`A`$ in the decay, for example, $`D_s^+f_0(980)\pi ^+`$ is opposite in the 2-quark and 4-quark models. That is, if the interference is constructive in one of the quark models, it will be destructive in the other model, unless the relative phase between $`T`$ and $`A`$ is $`90^{}`$. Therefore, whether or not one can distinguish between the $`q\overline{q}`$ and $`q^2\overline{q}^2`$ pictures for $`f_0(980)`$ via nonleptonic $`D`$ decays depends on the $`f_0\sigma `$ mixing angle and the magnitude and the phase of the $`W`$-annihilation term.

Finally we comment on the decays $`D^0f_0(1370)\overline{K}^0`$, $`D^+f_0(1370)\pi ^+`$ and $`D_s^+f_0(1370)\pi ^+`$ which have been measured by ARGUS , E687  and CLEO , by FOCUS  and by E791 , respectively, with the results

$`(D^0f_0(1370)\overline{K}^0)(f_0(1370)\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$ $`=`$ $`\{\begin{array}{cc}(4.7\pm 1.4)\times 10^3\hfill & \text{ARGUS,E687}\hfill \\ (5.9_{2.7}^{+1.8})\times 10^3,\hfill & \text{CLEO}\hfill \end{array}`$ (61)
$`(D^+f_0(1370)\pi ^+)(f_0(1370)K^+K^{})`$ $`=`$ $`(6.2\pm 1.1)\times 10^4\mathrm{FOCUS}`$ (62)
$`(D_s^+f_0(1370)\pi ^+)(f_0(1370)\pi ^+\pi ^{})`$ $`=`$ $`(3.3\pm 1.2)\times 10^3\mathrm{E791}`$ (63)
Since the branching fractions of $`f_0(1370)\pi ^+\pi ^{},K^+K^{}`$ are unknown, the individual branching ratio of $`D`$ decays into $`f_0(1370)`$ cannot be determined at present. Nevertheless, if $`f_0(1370)`$ is a $`n\overline{n}`$ state in nature, the decay $`D_s^+f_0(1370)\pi ^+`$ can only proceed through the topological $`W`$-annihilation diagram. Hence, this will be the first direct evidence for a non-vanishing $`W`$-annihilation amplitude $`A`$ in $`DSP`$ decays. The other modes $`D^0f_0(1370)\overline{K}^0`$ and $`D^+f_0(1370)\pi ^+`$ proceed via the internal $`W`$-emission diagram $`C`$ and the external $`W`$-emission diagram $`T`$, respectively. Taking into account the phase-space correction and noting that $`D^+f_0(1370)\pi ^+`$ is Cabibbo singly suppressed while the other two are Cabibbo allowed, it is obvious that $`|T|>|C|>|A|`$, as it should be.

### E $`Da_0(980)\pi ,a_0(980)K`$

Because the primed amplitudes $`T^{}`$ and $`C^{}`$ are largely suppressed relative to the unprimed ones $`T`$ and $`C`$ owing to the smallness of the $`a_0`$ decay constant, it is interesting to notice that the neutral state $`a_0^0\overline{K}^0`$ is not color suppressed relative to the charged mode $`a_0^+K^{}`$, contrary to the case of $`D^0\pi ^+K^{},\pi ^0\overline{K}^0`$. It is also anticipated that $`a_0^{}\pi ^+a_0^+\pi ^{}`$, a relation that cannot be tested by the present preliminary data as they do not have enough statistical significance.

Just as the $`D`$ decays to $`\sigma `$, $`\kappa `$, $`f_0(980)`$ and $`K_0^{}(1430)`$, one may use the channel $`D^+a_0^0\pi ^+`$ to fix the form factor for $`Da_0`$ transition. However, in the SU(3) limit, one has the relations (see Table IV)

$`R_1{\displaystyle \frac{(D^+a_0^0\pi ^+)}{(D^+\kappa \pi ^+)}}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left|{\displaystyle \frac{V_{cd}}{V_{cs}}}\right|^2,R_2{\displaystyle \frac{(D^+a_0^0\pi ^+)}{(D^+\sigma \pi ^+)}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}.`$ (64)
Experimentally, $`R_1\frac{1}{2}`$ and $`R_215`$. This indicates that the preliminary data of $`D^+a_0^0\pi ^+`$ is too large by at least an order of magnitude. Therefore, we will instead use the value of 0.77 for $`F_0^{Da_0}(0)`$ (see Sec. III.C). For the $`W`$-exchange amplitude we can apply Eq. (59).

The results of calculations are shown in Table IV. Obviously all the predicted branching ratios for $`Da_0\pi ,a_0K`$ (except for $`D^0a_0^{}\pi ^+`$) are too small by one to two orders of magnitude when compared with experiment. Note that $`D^0a_0^{}K^+`$ is Cabibbo doubly suppressed and it appears to be very unlikely that it has a large branching ratio of order $`10^3`$. From Table IV we also see that $`D^+a_0^+\overline{K}^0`$ has the largest branching ratio among the two-body decays $`Da_0\pi (K)`$.

If we fit the $`Da_0`$ form factor to $`D^+a_0^0\pi ^+`$, we will get $`F_0^{Da_0}(0)=3.4`$ and the large discrepancy between theory and experiment will be greatly improved. However, in the meantime we also predict that $`(D^+a_0^+\overline{K}^0)=0.35`$ which is obviously too large. Moreover, it is impossible to achieve this abnormally large $`Da_0`$ form factor in the quark model.

It is possible that one has to apply the Breit-Wigner approximation for $`a_0(980)`$ to derive the branching ratios for $`Da_0\pi ,a_0K`$ from the three-body decays of charmed mesons. Furthermore, the fraction of $`a_0(980)K\overline{K}`$ should be pinned down. It will be interesting to compare the experimental results with the predictions exhibited in Table IV.

## VI Conclusions

The nonleptonic weak decays of charmed mesons into a scalar meson and a pseudoscalar meson are studied. The scalar mesons under consideration are $`\sigma `$ \[or $`f_0(600)`$\], $`\kappa `$, $`f_0(980)`$, $`a_0(980)`$ and $`K_0^{}(1430)`$. The main conclusions are:

1. Studies of the mass spectrum of scalar mesons and their strong as well as electromagnetic decays suggest that the light scalars below or near 1 GeV form an SU(3) flavor nonet and are predominately the $`q^2\overline{q}^2`$ states, while the scalar mesons above 1 GeV can be described as a $`q\overline{q}`$ nonet with a possible mixing with $`0^+`$ $`q\overline{q}`$ and glueball states. Therefore, we designate $`q^2\overline{q}^2`$ to $`\sigma ,\kappa ,a_0(980),f_0(980)`$ and $`q\overline{q}`$ to $`K_0^{}`$.
2. The topological quark-diagram scheme for $`DSP`$ decays is more complicated than the case of $`DPP`$. One can have two different external $`W`$-emission and internal $`W`$-emission diagrams, depending on whether the emission particle is a scalar meson or a pseudoscalar one. The quark-diagram amplitude for the case when the emitted particle is a scalar meson is largely suppressed relative to the one when the pseudoscalar meson is emitted. Moreover, the former amplitude vanishes in the limit of SU(3) symmetry.
3. The charmed meson to $`\kappa `$ and $`K_0^{}`$ transition form factors are extracted from the Cabibbo-allowed decays $`D^+\kappa \pi ^+,\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^+`$, respectively, while $`D^+\sigma `$ and $`D_s^+f_0`$ ones are inferred from $`D^+\sigma \pi ^+`$ and $`D_s^+f_0\pi ^+`$, respectively, based on the assumption of negligible $`W`$ annihilation. We show that a large form factor for $`DK_0^{}`$ is expected. The relation $`F_0^{D^+f_0}=F_0^{D_s^+f_0}/2`$ obtained in the 4-quark picture for $`f_0(980)`$ leads to a prediction for $`D^+f_0\pi ^+`$ in agreement with experiment. Note that the value of the form factor $`F_0^{D\sigma }(0)=0.42\pm 0.05`$ obtained in this work is very different from the one $`0.8\pm 0.2`$ quoted in the literature. It is pointed out that the ISGW model and its improved version the ISGW2 model predict too small $`DS`$ form factors even at zero recoil.
4. Except for the Cabibbo doubly suppressed decay $`D^+f_0K^+`$, the data of $`D\sigma \pi ,f_0\pi ,f_0K,K_0^{}\pi `$ can be accommodated in the generalized factorization approach. Sizable weak annihilation contributions induced from final-state interactions are crucial for understanding the data. For example, the importance of the $`W`$-exchange term is implied by the decays $`D^0f_0\overline{K}^0,\overline{K}_0^0\pi ^0`$ and the $`W`$-annihilation one by $`D_s^+\overline{K}_0^0K^+`$. Without $`W`$-exchange or $`W`$-annihilation contributions, the decay rates of these modes will be too small by one order of magnitude. The branching ratio of $`D^+f_0K^+`$ is predicted to be of order $`10^5`$ and should be tested soon.
5. The predicted $`Da_0\pi ,a_0K`$ rates are too small by one to two orders of magnitude when compared with the preliminary measurements. It is pointed out that $`D^+a_0^+\overline{K}^0`$ should have the largest branching ratio among the decays $`Da_0\pi ,a_0K`$.
6. If $`f_0(980)`$ is a $`q\overline{q}`$ state in nature, it must contain not only $`s\overline{s}`$ but also $`u\overline{u}`$ and $`d\overline{d}`$ content. The $`f_0\sigma `$ mixing angles inferred from the hadronic decays $`J/\psi f_0\varphi /\omega `$, the radiative decay $`\varphi f_0\gamma `$ followed by $`f_0\gamma \gamma `$, and the strong coupling of $`f_0`$ to $`K\overline{K}`$ and $`\pi \pi `$ are not quite compatible with each other. If $`\theta 140^{}`$, then it will be possible to distinguish between the two-quark and four-quark pictures for $`f_0(980)`$ in the decay, for example, $`D_s^+f_0\pi ^+`$. In the SU(3) symmetry limit, the ratio of $`|A(D^+\sigma \pi ^+)/A(D^+\kappa \pi ^+)|^2`$ can be different by a factor of 2 in these two different pictures.

###### Acknowledgements.

This work was supported in part by the National Science Council of R.O.C. under Grant No. NSC91-2112-M-001-038.


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# Time-Evolution of Collective Meson Fields and Amplification of Quantum Meson Modes in Chiral Phase Transition

## 1 Introduction

One of the recent interests associated with the physics of the relativistic heavy-ion collisions is to study the dynamics of matter at very high energy density. Especially, it is interesting to investigate the dynamics of the chiral phase transition in connection with the problem of the formation of a disoriented chiral condensate (DCC). In Fig.1, the schematic diagram of the chiral phase transition is depicted in the $`O(4)`$ linear sigma model.

In order to investigate the time-evolution of the order parameter and of the fluctuation modes around it in the chiral phase transition, we have formulated the time-dependent variational approach to dynamics of quantum fields in terms of a squeezed state or a Gaussian wave functional. The main advantage of this approach to the dynamical problem lies in the fact that both the degrees of freedom of the mean field and the quantum fluctuations can be treated self-consistently. By using the above-mentioned method, we investigated the dynamics of a collective isospin rotation of quantum meson fields corresponding to the situation which is schematically drawn in Fig.1(b) in the $`O(4)`$-linear sigma model. We concluded that the collisionless dissipation occurs and we obtained that the damping time is about 40 fm/$`c`$ for the energy density (160 MeV)4. Further, the number of emitted mesons is estimated, which is about 15 pions per fm/$`c`$ in this dissipative process.

In this paper, it is assumed that the chiral phase transition occurs by the rolling down of the chiral condensate in what is called quench scenario, which is schematically depicted in Fig.1(a). The time evolution of chiral phase transition is investigated in this situation. In the early time of this process, the spinodal decomposition may occur. On the other hand, it is interesting in this paper to the mechanism of the chiral phase transition in the late time. Many authors pointed out that the parametric amplification of pion modes with low momenta is realized, which leads to the pion emission. Here, we will point out that the resonance mechanism due to forced oscillation is also realized as well as the parametric resonance.

## 2 Parametric Resonance versus Forced Oscillation

Let us start with the following Hamiltonian density of the $`O(4)`$ linear sigma model :

$$=\frac{1}{2}\pi _a(𝒙)^2+\frac{1}{2}\varphi _a(𝒙)\varphi _a(𝒙)+\lambda \left(\varphi _a(𝒙)^2m^2/4\lambda \right)^2H\varphi _0(𝒙).$$
(1)
The squeezed state is adopted as a trial state in the time-dependent variational principle :

$`|\mathrm{\Phi }(t)=N\mathrm{exp}\left(i(\overline{\pi }\varphi \overline{\phi }\pi )\right)\mathrm{exp}(\varphi [(G^1G^{(0)}{}_{}{}^{1})/4+i\mathrm{\Sigma }]\varphi )|0,`$ (2)
where $`N`$ represents a normalization factor and $`\overline{\pi }\varphi =_{a=0}^3d^3𝒙\overline{\pi }_a(𝒙,t)\varphi _a(𝒙)`$ and $`\varphi G^1\varphi =_{a=0}^3d^3𝒙d^3𝒚\varphi _a(𝒙)G_a^1(𝒙,𝒚,t)\varphi _a(𝒚)`$ and so on. Here, $`G_a^{(0)}=0|\varphi _a(𝒙)\varphi _a(𝒚)|0`$. The expectation values of the field operators are obtained as, for example, $`\mathrm{\Phi }(t)|\varphi _a(𝒙)|\mathrm{\Phi }(t)=\overline{\phi }_a(𝒙,t)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Phi }(t)|\varphi _a(𝒙)\varphi _a(𝒚)|\mathrm{\Phi }(t)=`$$`\overline{\phi }_a(𝒙,t)\overline{\phi }_a(𝒚,t)+G_a(𝒙,𝒚,t)`$. Thus, $`\overline{\phi }_a(𝒙,y)`$ and $`G_a(𝒙,𝒚,t)`$ represent the mean field and the fluctuation around it, respectively. The two-point function $`G_a(𝒙,𝒚,t)`$ can be further expanded in terms of the mode functions under the assumption of the translational invariance : $`G_a(𝒙,𝒚,t)=_𝐤e^{i𝐤(𝐱𝐲)}\eta _𝐤^a(t)^2`$, where $`_𝐤=d^3𝐤/(2\pi )^3`$. The time-dependence of these functions, together with $`\overline{\pi }_a`$ and $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_a`$, are determined in the time-dependent variational principle which can be expressed as $`\delta _{t_1}^{t_2}𝑑t\mathrm{\Phi }(t)|i/t\widehat{H}|\mathrm{\Phi }(t)=0`$, where $`\widehat{H}=d^3𝒙`$.

The equations of motion for the condensate $`\overline{\phi }_a(t)`$ and the fluctuation modes $`\eta _𝐤^a(t)`$ under the translational invariance can be expressed as

$`\ddot{\overline{\phi }}_a(t)m^2\overline{\phi }_a(t)+4\lambda \overline{\phi }_a(t)^3+12\lambda {\displaystyle _𝐤}\eta _𝐤^a(t)^2\overline{\phi }_a(t)`$
$`+4\lambda {\displaystyle \underset{ba}{}}\left(\overline{\phi }_b(t)^2+{\displaystyle _𝐤}\eta _𝐤^b(t)^2\right)\overline{\phi }_a(t)H\delta _{a0}=0,`$
$`\ddot{\eta }_𝐤^a(t)+[𝒌^2m^2+12\lambda \overline{\phi }_a(t)^2+12\lambda {\displaystyle _𝐤^{}}\eta _𝐤^{}^a(t)^2`$
$`+4\lambda {\displaystyle \underset{ba}{}}(\overline{\phi }_b(t)^2+{\displaystyle _𝐤^{}}\eta _𝐤^{}^b(t)^2)]\eta _𝐤^a(t)1/4\eta _𝐤^a(t)^3=0.`$ (3)
The time-evolution of the mean field, i.e., the chiral condensate with the direction of the sigma field, is depicted in the left in Fig.2. The relaxation to the vacuum value is seen due to the inclusion of the quantum fluctuation modes. If we do not take into account the quantum fluctuation modes fully, the relaxation is not seen. Thus, we conclude that the quantum fluctuation modes play an important role in this relaxation process. Also, the amplification of the amplitudes of quantum fluctuation modes with low momenta in the direction of pion fields occurs accompanying with the relaxation of the chiral order parameter, which is seen in the middle and the right figures in Fig.2. This phenomena may be understood in terms of a parametric amplification as was mentioned by many authors. However, there is another possibility to amplify the fluctuation modes.

In the late time of the chiral phase transition, the dynamical variables can be expanded around the static configurations. Namely, $`\overline{\phi }_0(t)=\phi _0+\delta \phi (t)`$ and $`\eta _𝐤^a(t)=\eta _𝐤^a+\delta \eta _𝐤^a(t)`$, where $`\phi _0`$ and $`\eta _𝐤^a`$ are static solutions of (2). In this expansion, we assume that $`|\delta \phi (t)|/\phi _01`$ and $`|\delta \eta _𝐤^a(t)/\eta _𝐤^a|1`$. Then we obtain the approximate equations of motion for the condensate and fluctuation modes as

$`\delta \ddot{\phi }(t)+M_\sigma ^2\delta \phi (t)=0,\text{i.e.,}\delta \phi (t)=\delta \sigma \mathrm{cos}(M_\sigma t),`$ (4)
$`\delta \ddot{\eta }_𝐤^\sigma (t)+\left[4(𝒌^2+M_\sigma ^2)+24\lambda \phi _0\delta \phi (t)\right]\delta \eta _𝐤^\sigma (t)=24\lambda \eta _𝐤^\sigma \phi _0\delta \phi (t),`$
$`\delta \ddot{\eta }_𝐤^\pi (t)+\left[4(𝒌^2+M_\pi ^2)+8\lambda \phi _0\delta \phi (t)\right]\delta \eta _𝐤^\pi (t)=8\lambda \eta _𝐤^\pi \phi _0\delta \phi (t),`$ (5)
where $`\eta _𝐤^0`$ ($`\eta _𝐤^i,i=1,2,3`$) and $`\delta \eta _𝐤^0(t)`$ ($`\delta \eta _𝐤^i(t),i=1,2,3`$) have been rewritten as $`\eta _𝐤^\sigma `$ ($`\eta _𝐤^\pi `$) and $`\delta \eta _𝐤^\sigma (t)`$ ($`\delta \eta _𝐤^\pi (t)`$), respectively. Here, $`M_\sigma `$ ($`M_\pi `$) represents the sigma (pi) meson mass in the $`O(4)`$ linear sigma model, respectively. If the right-hand sides of (5) can be neglected or have no effects, these equations give amplifying solutions in a certain parameter regions due to the parametric resonance mechanism. Actually, the amplitude of the lowest pion mode is amplified as is seen in the middle of Fig.2 in the late time of chiral phase transition. Even if the parametric resonance is not realized, there is another possibility to make amplitudes of meson modes amplify. Actually, the amplitude of the second excited pion mode is amplified due to the forced oscillation mechanism. In our numerical values,

$$\delta \eta _{n=2}^\pi (t)0.71(M_\sigma /2\sqrt{2M_\pi })(\delta \sigma /\phi _0)t\mathrm{sin}(2\sqrt{𝒌_2^2+M_\pi ^2}t),$$
(6)
where $`𝒌_2^2=(2\pi /L)^2\times 2`$ for the second excited mode under the box normalization of the length $`L(=10`$ fm). This behavior is seen in the right of Fig.2.

## 3 Conclusion

It has been shown approximately and analytically that both the parametric amplification and the resonance due to the forced oscillation occur in the late time of the chiral phase transition. Thus, it is pointed out that there actually coexist two mechanisms to amplify the quantum fluctuation modes in the late time of the chiral phase transition, namely, that a forced oscillation works as well as a parametric resonance.


text:
# Two-Loop Results for 𝑀_W in the Standard Model and the MSSM

## 1 INTRODUCTION

The comparison of electroweak precision measurements with the theoretical predictions allows to test the electroweak theory at the quantum level. In this way indirect constraints on unknown parameters of the theory can be obtained, in particular constraints on the Higgs-boson mass, $`M_\mathrm{H}`$, within the Standard Model (SM) and constraints on the parameters of the Higgs and scalar top and bottom sector within the Minimal Supersymmetric extension of the SM (MSSM).

Fig. 1 shows the result of a gobal fit to all data within the SM . The theoretical predictions are affected by two kinds of uncertainties: the uncertainties from unknown higher-order corrections, indicated by a “blue band” in Fig. 1, and uncertainties from experimental errors of the input parameters, indicated in Fig. 1 by two fit curves corresponding to two different values of $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _{\mathrm{had}}`$, the hadronic contribution to the shift in the fine structure constant (the experimental error of the top-quark mass, $`m_\mathrm{t}`$, is directly included in the fit). The upper plot in Fig. 1 shows the result based on the most recent data (summer 2002 ), and the currently best estimate of the theoretical uncertainties from unknown higher-order corrections, while the lower plot shows the fit result based on the previous estimate of the theoretical uncertainties and the winter 2001 data . The comparison in Fig. 1 shows that the present estimate of the theoretical uncertainties from unknown higher-order corrections yields a larger value than the previous estimate. This was triggered by the recently obtained result for the complete fermionic two-loop corrections to the W-boson mass, $`M_\mathrm{W}`$, in the SM , leading to an improved estimate of the remaining theroretical uncertainties in the prediction for the leptonic effective weak mixing angle, $`\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _{\mathrm{eff}}`$ .

In the following section the present status of the prediction for $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ in the SM is reviewed and an estimate of the remaining theoretical uncertainties of the electroweak precision observables is given. Sect. 3 summarises the impact of new electroweak two-loop contributions on the precision observables within the MSSM .

## 2 PREDICTION FOR $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ IN THE SM

The prediction for $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ is obtained from relating the result for the muon lifetime within the SM (and analogously for the MSSM) to the definition of the Fermi constant, $`G_\mu `$ (by convention, the QED corrections within the Fermi Model, which are known up to two-loop order , are split off in the defining equation for $`G_\mu `$). This leads to the relation

$$M_\mathrm{W}^2\left(1\frac{M_\mathrm{W}^2}{M_\mathrm{Z}^2}\right)=\frac{\pi \alpha }{\sqrt{2}G_\mu }\left(1+\mathrm{\Delta }r\right),$$
(1)
where the radiative corrections are summarised in the quantity $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$. The one-loop result for $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$  has first been improved by resummations of the leading one-loop contributions from fermion loops . Concerning irreducible two-loop contributions, the $`𝒪(\alpha \alpha _\mathrm{s})`$  corrections are known for some time, while in the electroweak sector results have been restricted until recently to asymptotic expansions for large Higgs  and top-quark masses .

Complete results for the fermion-loop contributions at two-loop order were first obtained for the Higgs-mass dependence of $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ in Ref. . The full result for the fermion-loop contributions at two-loop order was derived in Refs. . Fig. 2 shows the relative importance of the different contributions with one closed fermion loop to $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$ at two-loop order, whose sum is denoted by $`\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(N_\mathrm{f}\alpha ^2)}`$. It can be seen that both corrections with a top-/bottom-loop, $`\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(N_{\mathrm{tb}}\alpha ^2)}`$, and with a light-fermion loop, $`\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(N_{\mathrm{lf}}\alpha ^2)}`$, yield important contributions. It should be noted, however, that the light-fermion contribution contains the numerically relatively large term $`2\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha \mathrm{\Delta }r_{\mathrm{bos}}^{(\alpha )}`$, which can easily be separated from the genuine two-loop contribution of the light fermions. In order to investigate the numerical relevance of the latter, in Fig. 2 also the difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }r_{\mathrm{sub},1\mathrm{loop}}^{(N_{\mathrm{lf}}\alpha ^2)}=\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(N_{\mathrm{lf}}\alpha ^2)}2\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha \mathrm{\Delta }r_{\mathrm{bos}}^{(\alpha )}`$ is shown. While these genuine light-fermion two-loop contributions do not exceed the top-/bottom contributions for any value of the Higgs-boson mass below 1 TeV, they nevertheless amount up to $`3.3\times 10^4`$, which corresponds to a shift in $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ of more than 5 MeV.

Recently also the Higgs-mass dependence of the purely bosonic two-loop corrections became available . Finally, the full result for the purely bosonic two-loop corrections has been obtained in Ref. , completing in this way the calculation of muon decay at the two-loop level. The numerical effect of the purely bosonic two-loop corrections turned out to be relatively small, giving rise to a shift in $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ of less than $`\pm 1`$ MeV for $`M_\mathrm{H}1`$ TeV. From the higher-order contributions to $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$ (for a discussion, see e.g. Ref. ) only the top-bottom contributions at $`𝒪(\alpha \alpha _\mathrm{s}^2)`$  were found to be non-negligible in view of the present experimental accuracies.

Below a simple parameterisation of the result for $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ is given, being based on taking into account the following contributions to $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$,

$`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(\alpha )}+\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(\alpha \alpha _\mathrm{s})}+\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(\alpha \alpha _\mathrm{s}^2)}`$
$`+\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(N_\mathrm{f}\alpha ^2)}+\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(N_\mathrm{f}^2\alpha ^2)}+\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(\alpha ^2,\mathrm{bos})},`$
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(\alpha )}`$ is the one-loop result, $`\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(\alpha \alpha _\mathrm{s})}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(\alpha \alpha _\mathrm{s}^2)}`$ are the two-loop and three-loop QCD corrections, $`\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(N_\mathrm{f}\alpha ^2)}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(N_\mathrm{f}^2\alpha ^2)}`$ are the electroweak two-loop contributions with one and two fermion loops, respectively, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(\alpha ^2,\mathrm{bos})}`$ is the purely bosonic two-loop contribution according to the expression given in Ref. . The numerically rather small electroweak higher-order corrections have been neglected here. The parameterisation of the result for $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ reads

$`M_\mathrm{W}`$ $`=`$ $`M_\mathrm{W}^0d_1\mathrm{dH}d_2\mathrm{dH}^2+d_3\mathrm{dH}^4`$ (3)
$`d_4\mathrm{d}\alpha +d_5\mathrm{dt}d_6\mathrm{dt}^2d_7\mathrm{dH}\mathrm{dt}`$
$`d_8\mathrm{d}\alpha _\mathrm{s}+d_9\mathrm{dZ},`$
where the dependence on the variables $`M_\mathrm{H}`$, $`m_\mathrm{t}`$, $`\alpha `$, $`\alpha _\mathrm{s}`$ and $`M_\mathrm{Z}`$ is expressed by $`\mathrm{dH}=\mathrm{ln}\left(M_\mathrm{H}/(100\mathrm{GeV})\right)`$, $`\mathrm{dt}=\left(m_\mathrm{t}/(174.3\mathrm{GeV})\right)^21`$, $`\mathrm{d}\alpha =\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha /0.059241`$, $`\mathrm{d}\alpha _\mathrm{s}=\alpha _\mathrm{s}(M_\mathrm{Z})/0.1191`$, and $`\mathrm{dZ}=M_\mathrm{Z}/(91.1875\mathrm{GeV})1`$. The coefficients $`d_1,\mathrm{},d_9`$ have the following values (in GeV)

$$\begin{array}{cccccc}\hfill M_\mathrm{W}^0& =& 80.3757,\hfill & \hfill d_5& =& 0.5236,\hfill \\ \hfill d_1& =& 0.05515,\hfill & \hfill d_6& =& 0.0727,\hfill \\ \hfill d_2& =& 0.009803,\hfill & \hfill d_7& =& 0.00541,\hfill \\ \hfill d_3& =& 0.0006078,\hfill & \hfill d_8& =& 0.0765,\hfill \\ \hfill d_4& =& 1.078,\hfill & \hfill d_9& =& 115.0.\hfill \end{array}$$
(4)
Employing these coefficients, the simple parameterisation of eq. (3) approximates the full result for $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ based on the contributions given in eq. (LABEL:eq:delrcontribs) with an accuracy of better than $`0.3`$ MeV for $`65\mathrm{GeV}`$ $`M_\mathrm{H}`$ $`1\mathrm{TeV}`$ and $`2\sigma `$ variations of all other experimental input values. This formula, which includes the recently obtained result for $`\mathrm{\Delta }r^{(\alpha ^2,\mathrm{bos})}`$ , updates the parameterisation given in Ref. . As discussed above, the corresponding shift in $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ lies within about $`\pm 1`$ MeV.

The remaining theoretical uncertainties of the electroweak precision observables from unknown higher-order corrections, taking into account all known contributions, can be estimated with the methods described in Refs.  as:

$$\delta M_\mathrm{W}^{\mathrm{th}}\pm 6\mathrm{MeV},\delta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta _{\mathrm{eff}}^{\mathrm{th}}\pm 7\times 10^5.$$
(5)
They are smaller at present than the parametric uncertainties from the experimental errors of the input parameters $`m_\mathrm{t}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _{\mathrm{had}}`$. The experimental errors of $`\delta m_\mathrm{t}=\pm 5.1`$ GeV  and $`\delta (\mathrm{\Delta }\alpha _{\mathrm{had}})=36\times 10^5`$  induce theoretical uncertainties of

$`\delta M_\mathrm{W}^{\mathrm{th}}\pm 31\mathrm{MeV},`$ $`\delta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta _{\mathrm{eff}}^{\mathrm{th}}\pm 16\times 10^5,`$
$`\delta M_\mathrm{W}^{\mathrm{th}}\pm 6.5\mathrm{MeV},`$ $`\delta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta _{\mathrm{eff}}^{\mathrm{th}}\pm 13\times 10^5,`$ (6)
respectively. For comparison, the present experimental errors of $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _{\mathrm{eff}}`$ are

$$\delta M_\mathrm{W}^{\mathrm{exp}}\pm 34\mathrm{MeV},\delta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta _{\mathrm{eff}}^{\mathrm{exp}}\pm 17\times 10^5.$$

At the next generation of colliders, i.e. RunII of the Tevatron, the LHC and an $`e^+e^{}`$ Linear Collider running at the Z-boson resonance and the WW-threshold, these experimental errors will be reduced to about (see Ref.  and references therein)

$$\delta M_\mathrm{W}^{\mathrm{exp}}\pm 67\mathrm{MeV},\delta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta _{\mathrm{eff}}^{\mathrm{exp}}\pm 1\times 10^5.$$
(7)
At the same time, improved measurements will also reduce the parametric uncertainty from the experimental errors of the input parameters to about .

$$\delta M_\mathrm{W}^{\mathrm{th}}\pm 2\mathrm{MeV},\delta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta _{\mathrm{eff}}^{\mathrm{th}}\pm 2\times 10^5.$$
(8)
Further work on higher-order corrections will clearly be needed in order to reduce the uncertainties from unknown higher-order corrections below the level of eqs. (7), (8).

## 3 LEADING ELECTROWEAK 2-LOOP CORRECTIONS IN THE MSSM

The situation concerning theoretical uncertainties of the electroweak precision observables $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ and $`\mathrm{sin}^2\theta _{\mathrm{eff}}`$ from unknown higher-order corrections within the MSSM is significantly worse than in the SM. Comparing the available results for higher-order corrections in both models, the uncertainties from unknown higher-order corrections within the MSSM can be estimated to be at least a factor of 2 larger than the ones in the SM as given in eq. (5).

The leading higher-order corrections from quark and squark loops enter via the quantity $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho `$,

$$\mathrm{\Delta }\rho =\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{Z}(0)}{M_\mathrm{Z}^2}\frac{\mathrm{\Sigma }_\mathrm{W}(0)}{M_\mathrm{W}^2},$$
(9)
where $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{\mathrm{Z},\mathrm{W}}(0)`$ denote the transverse parts of the unrenormalised Z- and W-boson self-energies at zero momentum transfer, respectively. Within the MSSM, the two-loop corrections of $`𝒪(\alpha \alpha _\mathrm{s})`$ to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho `$  as well as the gluonic two-loop corrections to $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$  have been obtained. Concerning electroweak two-loop corrections, in the limit of a large SUSY scale, $`M_{\mathrm{SUSY}}M_\mathrm{Z}`$, where the SUSY particles decouple, the contributions in the MSSM reduce to those of a Two-Higgs-Doublet model with MSSM restrictions. As a first result in this context, the $`𝒪(\alpha _t^2)`$ corrections in the limit where the lightest $`𝒞𝒫`$-even Higgs boson mass vanishes, i.e. $`m_\mathrm{h}0`$, have been obtained in Ref. . Recently the $`𝒪(\alpha _t^2)`$, $`𝒪(\alpha _t\alpha _b)`$ and $`𝒪(\alpha _b^2)`$ contributions to $`\mathrm{\Delta }\rho `$ for $`M_{\mathrm{SUSY}}M_\mathrm{Z}`$ have been evaluated for arbitrary values of $`m_\mathrm{h}`$ . As in the case of the SM, the numerical effect of going to non-vanishing values of the Higgs-boson mass turned out to be sizable.

In Fig. 3 the numerical effect of the $`𝒪(\alpha _t^2)`$ corrections on $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ is analysed. In addition to the MSSM $`𝒪(\alpha _t^2)`$ correction to $`\delta M_\mathrm{W}`$ also the ‘effective’ change from the SM result (where the value of the SM Higgs boson mass has been set to $`m_\mathrm{h}`$) to the new MSSM result is shown. The parameters in Fig. 3 are chosen according to the $`m_\mathrm{h}^{\mathrm{max}}`$ benchmark scenario , i.e. $`M_{\mathrm{SUSY}}=1`$ TeV, $`X_\mathrm{t}=2M_{\mathrm{SUSY}}`$, where $`m_\mathrm{t}X_\mathrm{t}`$ is the off-diagonal entry in the $`\stackrel{~}{t}`$ mass matrix. The other parameters are $`\mu =200\mathrm{GeV}`$, $`A_\mathrm{b}=A_\mathrm{t}`$. The Higgs-boson mass $`m_\mathrm{h}`$ is obtained in the upper plot from varying $`M_\mathrm{A}`$ from $`50\mathrm{GeV}`$ to $`1000\mathrm{GeV}`$, while keeping $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ fixed at $`\mathrm{tan}\beta =3,40`$. In the lower plot, $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ is varied from 2 to 40, $`M_\mathrm{A}`$ is kept fixed at $`M_\mathrm{A}=100,300\mathrm{GeV}`$. The calculation of $`m_\mathrm{h}`$ from the other MSSM parameters contains corrections up to two-loop order, as implemented in the program FeynHiggs .

The effect of the $`𝒪(\alpha _t^2)`$ MSSM contributions on $`\delta M_\mathrm{W}`$ amounts up to $`12\mathrm{MeV}`$. For large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ it saturates at about $`10\mathrm{MeV}`$. The ‘effective’ change in $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ in comparison with the corresponding SM result with the same value of the Higgs-boson mass is significantly smaller. It amounts up to $`3\mathrm{MeV}`$ and goes to zero for large $`M_\mathrm{A}`$ as expected from the decoupling behaviour. For a small $`𝒞𝒫`$-odd Higgs boson mass, $`M_\mathrm{A}=100\mathrm{GeV}`$, a shift of $`2\mathrm{MeV}`$ in $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ remains also in the limit of large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$, since the two Higgs doublet sector does not decouple from the MSSM. For large $`M_\mathrm{A}`$, $`M_\mathrm{A}=300\mathrm{GeV}`$, for nearly all $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ values the effective change in $`M_\mathrm{W}`$ is small.

The absolute contribution for $`\delta \mathrm{sin}^2\theta _{\mathrm{eff}}`$ (which is not shown here) is around $`+6\times 10^5`$. The effective change ranges between $`+3\times 10^5`$ for small $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ and small $`M_\mathrm{A}`$ and approximately zero for large $`\mathrm{tan}\beta `$ and large $`M_\mathrm{A}`$.

Acknowledgements: G.W. thanks the organisers of “RADCOR 2002 – Loops & Legs 2002” for the invitation and the pleasant atmosphere at the meeting. This work has been supported by the European Community’s Human Potential Programme under contract HPRN-CT-2000-00149 Physics at Colliders.