Testing the consistency of the $omegapi$ transition form factor with unitarity and analyticity

We perform a dispersive analysis of the $omegapi$ electromagnetic transition form factor, using as input the discontinuity provided by unitarity below the $omegapi$ threshold and including for the first time experimental data on the modulus measured from $e^+e^-toomegapi^0$ at higher energies. The input leads to stringent parameterization-free constraints on the modulus of the form factor below the $omegapi$ threshold, which are in disagreement with some experimental values measured from $omegato pi^0gamma^*$ decay. We discuss the dependence on the input parameters in the unitarity relation, using for illustration an $N/D$ formalism for the P partial wave of the scattering process $omegapi to pipi$, improved by a simple prescription which simulates the rescattering in the crossed channels. Our results confirm the existence of a conflict between experimental data and theoretical calculations of the $omegapi$ form factor in the region around 0.6 GeV and bring further arguments in support of renewed experimental efforts to measure more precisely the $omegatopi^0gamma^*$ decay.

Strong coupling from the tau hadronic width by non-power QCD perturbation theory

Starting from the divergent character of the perturbative expansions in QCD and using the technique of series acceleration by the conformal mappings of the Borel plane, I define a novel, non-power perturbative expansion for the Adler function, which simultaneously implements renormalization-group summation and has a tamed large-order behaviour. The new expansion functions, which replace the standard powers of the coupling, are singular at the origin of the coupling plane and have divergent perturbative expansions, resembling the expanded function itself. Confronting the new perturbative expansions with the standard ones on specific models investigated recently in the literature, I show that they approximate in an impressive way the exact Adler function and the spectral function moments. Applied to the $tau$ hadronic width, the contour-improved and the renormalization-group summed non-power expansions in the ${overline{rm MS}}$ scheme lead to the prediction $alpha_s(M_tau^2)= 0.3192~^{+ 0.0167}_{-0.0126}$, which translates to $alpha_s(M_Z^2)= 0.1184~^{+0.0020}_{-0.0016}$.