The study of neutrinoless double beta decays of nuclei and hyperons require the calculation of hadronic matrix elements of local four-quark operators that change the total charge by two units Delta Q=2 . Using a low energy effective Lagrangian that i
nduces these transitions, we compute these hadronic matrix elements in the framework of the MIT bag model. As an illustrative example we evaluate the amplitude and transition rate of Sigma- -> p e- e-, a decay process that violates lepton number by two units (Delta L=2). The relevant matrix element is evaluated without assuming the usual factorization approximation of the four-quark operators and the results obtained in both approaches are compared.
Current predictions for the ratio of phi -> K^+K^-/K_LK_S decay rates exceed the corresponding experimental value in about five standard deviations. By far, the dominant sources of isospin breaking to this ratio are the phase-space (52%) and the elec
tromagnetic radiative (4.3%, computed within scalar QED) corrections. Here we estimate the effects of the electromagnetic structure of kaons and other model-dependent contributions into the radiative corrections.
The tau -> (omega, phi)P^- u decays, where P^-=pi^-, K^-, are considered within a phenomenological model with dominance of meson intermediate states. We assume SU(3) flavor symmetry to fix some of the unknown strong interaction couplings. Our predict
ions for the tau -> phi (pi^-, K^-) u branching fractions are in good agreement with recent measurements of the BABAR and BELLE Collaborations.
We compute the rates of semileptonic B_A to B_Bl^-l^- (l=e or mu) hyperon transitions in a model where intermediate states involve loops of baryons and a Majorana neutrino. These rates turn out to be well below present experimental bounds and other t
heoretical estimates. From the experimental upper limit on the Xi^- to pmu^-mu^- decay, we derive the bound <m_{mu mu}> < 22 TeV for the effective Majorana mass of the muon neutrino. Also, an estimate of background contributions for these decays due to the allowed B_A to B_Bl^-l^-bar{ u}bar{ u} decays are provided.
We compute the difference in decay widths of charged and neutral rho(770) vector mesons. The isospin breaking arising from mass differences of neutral and charged pi and rho mesons, radiative corrections to rho -> pipi, and the rho -> pipigamma decay
s are taken into account. It is found that the width difference Delta Gamma_rho is very sensitive ot the isospin breaking in the $rho$ meson mass Delta m_rho. This result can be useful to test the correlations observed between the values of these parameters extracted from experimental data.
