Chiral perturbation theory allows us to probe the low energy properties of hadrons. In this thesis we have looked at the axial coupling constant (see chapter 4) and baryon number violation (see chapter 5).We calculated the axial coupling constant up to O(p^4) using the extended on mass shell renormalisation scheme in chiral perturbation theory. We also included the decuplet as an explicit degree of freedom. To fit the free parameters in our expression we used a combination of lattice and experimental data. We found that the fourth order corrections were quite large, and we struggled to produce an acceptable fit to the data. We also saw that the running of g_{A}^{pn} with M_\pi predicted by lattice QCD and ChPT at O(p^4) do not agree well. This is likely due to a combination of finite size effects impacting the low pion mass lattice data and the chiral perturbative series converging slowly. For our work on baryon number violation we looked at determining the values of two low-energy constants that appear in the baryon violating chiral Lagrangian. To do this, we matched our expression to lattice data. Previous determinations of the parameters had been done without calculating the effect of loops, ours was the first investigation to see what impact the loop diagrams would have. We found that our determinations of the parameters were in agreement with previous results, suggesting the effect of the loops is small. We also performed a chiral extrapolation, and found that our results were in agreement with previous results that did not account for loop corrections. This suggests that the impact of higher-order corrections is not significant for this baryon-number-violating process.

We study the masses of the low-lying charm and bottom mesons within the framework of heavy-hadron chiral perturbation theory. We work to third order in the chiral expansion, where meson loops contribute. In contrast to previous approaches, we use physical meson masses in evaluating these loops. This ensures that their imaginary parts are consistent with the observed widths of the D-mesons. The lowest odd- and even-parity, strange and non-strange mesons provide enough constraints to determine only certain linear combinations of the low-energy constants (LECs) in the effective Lagrangian. We comment on how lattice QCD could provide further information to disentangle these constants. Then we use the results from the charm sector to predict the spectrum of odd- and even-parity of the bottom mesons. The predicted masses from our theory are in good agreement with experimentally measured masses for the case of the odd-parity sector. For the even-parity sector, the $B$-meson states have not yet been observed; thus, our results provide useful information for experimentalists investigating such states. The near degeneracy of nonstrange and strange scalar $B$ mesons is confirmed in our predictions using $\mathrm{HHChPT}$. Finally,we show why previous approaches of using $\mathrm{HHChPT}$ in studying the mass degeneracy in the scalar states of charm and bottom meson sectors gave unsatisfactory results. Interactions between these heavy mesons are treated using effective theories similar to those used to study nuclear forces. We first look at a strongly-interacting channel which produces a bound or virtual state and a dimer state which couples weakly to a weakly-interacting channel to produce a narrow resonance. We also look at the short-range interactions in two channels. We consider two cases: two channels where one has a strong $s$-wave interaction which produces bound or virtual states, and a dimer state which couples weakly to weakly-coupled channels which in turn can produce narrow resonances. For each of these systems, we use well-defined power-counting schemes. The results can be used to investigate resonances in the charmonium and bottomonium systems. We demonstrate how the method can be applied to the $X(3872)$. The widths of the $X(3872)$ for decay processes to $\bar{D}^0 D^{*0}$ and $\bar{D}^0D^0\pi$ are calculated. We use these results to obtain the line shapes of the $X(3872)$ under different assumptions about the nature of this state.

The Effective Field Theory formalism is applied to the study of problems in hadronic and nuclear physics. We develop a framework to study the exclusive two-body decays of bottomonium into two charmed mesons and apply it to study the decays of the C-even bottomonia. Using a sequence of effective field theories, we take advantage of the separation between the scales contributing to the decay processes, 2m(b) ≫ m(c) ≫∧(QCD). We prove that, at leading order in the EFT power counting, the decay rate factorizes into the convolution of two perturbative matching coefficients and three non-perturbative matrix elements, one for each hadron. We calculate the relations between the decay rate and non-perturbative bottomonium and D-meson matrix elements at leading order, with next-to-leading log resummation. The phenomenological implications of these relations are discussed. At lower energies, we use Chiral Perturbation Theory and nuclear EFTs to set up a framework for the study of time reversal (T) symmetry in one- and few-nucleon problems. We consider T violation from the QCD θ term and from all the possible dimension 6 operators, expressed in terms of light quarks, gluons and photons, that can be added to the Standard Model Lagrangian. We construct the low energy chiral Lagrangian stemming from different TV sources, and derive the implications for the nucleon Electric Dipole Form Factor and the deuteron T violating electromagnetic Form Factors. Finally, with an eye to applications to nuclei with A ≥ 2, we construct the T violating nucleon-nucleon potential from different sources of T violation.

A teoria de perturba ca o quiral (ChPT) e aceita, atualmente, como a teoria efetiva da cromodinamica quantica (QCD) para baixas energias. Ela foi colocada na sua versa o moderna com os artigos de Gasser e Leutwyler, na primeira metade da d ecada de 80 e, durante os 25 anos que se seguiram, ocorreu um aumento considera vel da variedade de fenomenos por ela descritos, sempre acompanhando a precisa o cres- cente dos resultados experimentais. Os trabalhos que apresentamos nesta tese de doutorado se inserem neste contexto e envolvem duas partes, ambas relacionadas a` determina c ao de alguns dos parametros que compo em a lagrangiana da ChPT. Por ser uma teoria efetiva, tais constantes s o podem ser fixadas por experimentos, modelos ou por c alculos da QCD na rede. Em um dos trabalhos, discutimos a cons- tante de decaimento do p on, F, e os efeitos decorrentes do acr escimo de intera co es eletromagn eticas a` ChPT. N os argumentamos que as incertezas estimadas para o valor mais aceito de F podem estar subestimadas. Mostramos, tamb em, que na o se pode determinar esta constante na presen ca das intera co es eletromagn eticas, pois a grandeza de onde ela e extra da adquire uma dependencia no calibre utilizado no ca lculo e tem suas propriedades alteradas drasticamente. No outro trabalho, abor- damos os fatores de forma escalares dos m esons pseudoescalares em tres sabores. A partir dos resultados obtidos com a ChPT e do uso de um modelo que trata dos fatores de forma no espa co das posi co es, conseguimos escreve-los em termos ape- nas das constantes presentes na lagrangiana em ordem dominante da ChPT, F e as massas dos m esons pseudoescalares. No s determinamos, tamb em, os respectivos raios quadra ticos m edios e, comparando-os com os calculados com a ChPT, obtive- mos as LECs L4(mu) = -0,26 · 10^-3 e L5(mu) = 0,85 · 10^-3, para mu = 770 MeV. Esses valores sa o compat veis com as principais estimativas vindas da ChPT. / At present, chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) is considered the effective theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at low energies. It was established in its modern version by the papers of Gasser and Leutwyler written in the first half of the 80s. For the last 25 years, there has been considerable increase in the number of phe- nomena described by ChPT, always following the growing precision of experiments. The two works we present in this Ph.D. thesis are related to ChPT and discuss the determination of some of the parameters that appear in the ChPT lagrangian. As ChPT is an effective theory, such constants can only be fixed by experiments, models or calculations in the lattice. In the first presented work, we discuss the pion decay constant, F, and how it is changed by the inclusion of electromagne- tic interactions. We argue that the uncertainty of the most accepted value of F might be underestimated. We also show that we cannot determine this constant in the presence of electromagnetic interactions because the function from which it is extracted acquires a gauge dependence and the functions properties drastically change. In the other work, we deal with pseudoscalar meson scalar form factor in three flavors. We manage to write the form factors only in terms of constants present in ChPT lagrangian at leading order, F and masses of pseudoscalar mesons, using ChPT results and the model that deals with form factors in coordinate space. We also determine the respective square radii and, comparing these to those calculated using ChPT, we have obtained L4(mu) = -0.26 · 10^-3 and L5(mu) = 0.85 · 10^-3, for mu = 770 MeV. These values are compatible with the main estimates evaluated with ChPT.

In 2008 a large statistics sample of approximately 1·107 η-decays has been collected with the WASA detector at COSY using the pd→3Heη reaction at the beam kinetic energy of 1 GeV. These data are being used to study the not so rare η decays involving charged pions, like η→π+π-π0. This decay proceeds mainly via a strong isospin violating contribution, where the decay width is proportional to the light quark mass difference squared, (md-mu)2. In addition this decay can be used to search for C-violating effects. The analysis is presented and the Dalitz plot parameters with statistical and systematical uncertainties are determined from a sample of 1.33·105 η→π+π-π0 events in the Dalitz plot. The asymmetry parameters with statistical uncertainties are presented which show no evidence of C-violation. / WASA-at-COSY

CP violation is an important condition to explain the preponderance of baryons in our universe, yet the available CP violation in the Standard Model (SM) via the so-called Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mechanism seems to not provide enough CP violation. Thus searching for new sources of CP violation is one of the central tasks of modern physics. In this thesis, we focus on a new possible source of CP violation which generates triple-product correlations in momenta which can appear in neutron and nuclear radiative β decay. We show that at low energies such a CP violating correlation may arise from the exotic coupling of nucleon, photon and neutrino that was proposed by Harvey, Hill, and Hill (HHH). One specialty of such an exotic HHH coupling is that it does not generate the well-known CP-violating terms such as ``D-term'', ``R-term'', and neutron electric dipole moment, in which particle's spins play critical role. We show that such a new HHH-induced CP violating effect is proportional to the imaginary part of c5gv, where gv is the vector coupling constant in neutron and nuclear β decay, and c5 is the phenomenological coupling constant that appears in chiral perturbation theory at O(M-2) with M referring to the nucleon or nuclear mass. We consider a possible non-Abelian hidden sector model, which is beyond the SM and may yield a nontrivial Im(c5). The available bounds on both Im(c5) and Im(gv) are considered, and a better limit on Im(c5) can come from a direct measurement in radiative beta decay. We calculate the competitive effect that arises from the general parameterization of the weak interaction that was proposed by Lee and Yang in 1956. We also show that in the proposed measurements, the CP-violating effect can be mimicked by the SM via final-state interactions (FSI). For a better determination of the bound of Im(c5), we consider the FSI-induced mimicking effect in full detail in O(α) as well as in leading recoil order. To face ongoing precision measurements of neutron radiative β decay of up to 1% relative error, we sharpen our calculations of the CP conserving pieces of neutron radiative β decay by considering the largest contributions in O(α2): the final-state Coulomb corrections as well as the contributions from two-photon radiation.

At the present time it is unknown how the U(1)A anomaly of Quantum Chromodynamics behaves at high temperatures. We therefore want to look for thermal changes of the effects of the anomaly. For example, by studying the properties of the η' meson at high temperatures it would be possible to deduce important information on the axial anomaly, thanks to the deep connection between them. In this thesis the width of the η' as a function of the temperature is studied in the framework of large-Nc Chiral Perturbation Theory, at next-to-leading order, and in the corresponding Resonance Chiral Theory. We calculate the width increase due to scattering with particles from the heat bath, which we assume to consist of a pion gas. We compare the results obtained in both frameworks and as expected we find a smaller, but still consistent width increase when the more realistic resonance exchange is taken into account. The results suggest that the in-medium width of the η' may increase up to ΔΓ<img src="http://www.diva-portal.org/cgi-bin/mimetex.cgi?%5Capprox" /> 10 MeV at a temperature of T<img src="http://www.diva-portal.org/cgi-bin/mimetex.cgi?%5Capprox" /> 120 MeV. We find therefore a width increase of considerable size, comparable to the inverse lifetime of the fireball created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. In other words, our results suggest that it may be possible to study experimentally how the properties of the η' change at high temperatures.

Chiral perturbation theory is a useful tool in the study of low energy reactions involving light particles. However the inclusion of heavy particles in chiral perturbation theory results in large contributions from loop diagrams which violate the standard power counting scheme. We review two methods, referred to as heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory and infrared regularization, which remove the high energy effects of the heavy particles and which therefore do not violate the power counting scheme. We then use these two methods to calculate the amplitude for pion photoproduction to fourth order and prove that the two amplitudes are equivalent.

Chiral perturbation theory is a useful tool in the study of low energy reactions involving light particles. However the inclusion of heavy particles in chiral perturbation theory results in large contributions from loop diagrams which violate the standard power counting scheme. We review two methods, referred to as heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory and infrared regularization, which remove the high energy effects of the heavy particles and which therefore do not violate the power counting scheme. We then use these two methods to calculate the amplitude for pion photoproduction to fourth order and prove that the two amplitudes are equivalent.

A teoria de perturba ca o quiral (ChPT) e aceita, atualmente, como a teoria efetiva da cromodinamica quantica (QCD) para baixas energias. Ela foi colocada na sua versa o moderna com os artigos de Gasser e Leutwyler, na primeira metade da d ecada de 80 e, durante os 25 anos que se seguiram, ocorreu um aumento considera vel da variedade de fenomenos por ela descritos, sempre acompanhando a precisa o cres- cente dos resultados experimentais. Os trabalhos que apresentamos nesta tese de doutorado se inserem neste contexto e envolvem duas partes, ambas relacionadas a` determina c ao de alguns dos parametros que compo em a lagrangiana da ChPT. Por ser uma teoria efetiva, tais constantes s o podem ser fixadas por experimentos, modelos ou por c alculos da QCD na rede. Em um dos trabalhos, discutimos a cons- tante de decaimento do p on, F, e os efeitos decorrentes do acr escimo de intera co es eletromagn eticas a` ChPT. N os argumentamos que as incertezas estimadas para o valor mais aceito de F podem estar subestimadas. Mostramos, tamb em, que na o se pode determinar esta constante na presen ca das intera co es eletromagn eticas, pois a grandeza de onde ela e extra da adquire uma dependencia no calibre utilizado no ca lculo e tem suas propriedades alteradas drasticamente. No outro trabalho, abor- damos os fatores de forma escalares dos m esons pseudoescalares em tres sabores. A partir dos resultados obtidos com a ChPT e do uso de um modelo que trata dos fatores de forma no espa co das posi co es, conseguimos escreve-los em termos ape- nas das constantes presentes na lagrangiana em ordem dominante da ChPT, F e as massas dos m esons pseudoescalares. No s determinamos, tamb em, os respectivos raios quadra ticos m edios e, comparando-os com os calculados com a ChPT, obtive- mos as LECs L4(mu) = -0,26 · 10^-3 e L5(mu) = 0,85 · 10^-3, para mu = 770 MeV. Esses valores sa o compat veis com as principais estimativas vindas da ChPT. / At present, chiral perturbation theory (ChPT) is considered the effective theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at low energies. It was established in its modern version by the papers of Gasser and Leutwyler written in the first half of the 80s. For the last 25 years, there has been considerable increase in the number of phe- nomena described by ChPT, always following the growing precision of experiments. The two works we present in this Ph.D. thesis are related to ChPT and discuss the determination of some of the parameters that appear in the ChPT lagrangian. As ChPT is an effective theory, such constants can only be fixed by experiments, models or calculations in the lattice. In the first presented work, we discuss the pion decay constant, F, and how it is changed by the inclusion of electromagne- tic interactions. We argue that the uncertainty of the most accepted value of F might be underestimated. We also show that we cannot determine this constant in the presence of electromagnetic interactions because the function from which it is extracted acquires a gauge dependence and the functions properties drastically change. In the other work, we deal with pseudoscalar meson scalar form factor in three flavors. We manage to write the form factors only in terms of constants present in ChPT lagrangian at leading order, F and masses of pseudoscalar mesons, using ChPT results and the model that deals with form factors in coordinate space. We also determine the respective square radii and, comparing these to those calculated using ChPT, we have obtained L4(mu) = -0.26 · 10^-3 and L5(mu) = 0.85 · 10^-3, for mu = 770 MeV. These values are compatible with the main estimates evaluated with ChPT.