After a brief review of B_s^0 - bar B_s^0 oscillations, we discuss the weak decays B_s^0 -> J/psiphi and B_s^0 -> J/psi f_0(980) and the ratio R_{f_0/phi} of their decay rates in the light of recent measurements by the LHCb, D0 and CDF Collaborations
. We point out that the experimental values for R_{f_0/phi} impose tight limits on new physics contributions to both decay channels.
The structure of the pion wave function in the relativistic constituent quark model is investigated in the explicitly covariant formulation of light-front dynamics. We calculate the two relativistic components of the pion wave function in a simple on
e-gluon exchange model and investigate various physical observables: decay constant, charge radius, electromagnetic and transition form factors. We discuss the influence of the full relativistic structure of the pion wave function for an overall good description of all these observables, including both low and high momentum scales.
A phenomenological analysis of the scalar meson f0(980) is performed that relies on the quasi-two body decays D and Ds -> f0(980)P, with P=pi, K. The two-body branching ratios are deduced from experimental data on D or Ds -> pi pi pi, K Kbar pi and f
rom the f0(980) -> pi+ pi- and f0(980) -> K+ K- branching fractions. Within a covariant quark model, the scalar form factors F0(q2) for the transitions D and Ds -> f0(980) are computed. The weak D decay amplitudes, in which these form factors enter, are obtained in the naive factorization approach assuming a quark-antiquark state for the scalar and pseudoscalar mesons. They allow to extract information on the f0(980) wave function in terms of u-ubar, d-dbar and s-sbar pairs as well as on the mixing angle between the strange and non-strange components. The weak transition form factors are modeled by the one-loop triangular diagram using two different relativistic approaches: covariant light-front dynamics and dispersion relations. We use the information found on the f0(980) structure to evaluate the scalar and vector form factors in the transitions D and Ds -> f0(980), as well as to make predictions for B and Bs -> f0(980), for the entire kinematically allowed momentum range of q2.
