<Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis>-meson physics: <Emphasis Type="Italic">CP</Emphasis> violation and semileptonic decays

The paper represents a review of our present knowledge on the phenomenology of weak decays of quarks and their role in the determination of the parameters of the Standard Model. Specifically, we focus on CP violation in B decays and the determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element V_cb from exclusive and inclusive semileptonic B decays. We also briefly discuss phenomeno-logical applications concerning the electron energy spectra in inclusive semileptonic B and B_c decays.     

Looking for new physics in leptonic and semileptonic decays of <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis>-meson

We probe possible new physics (NP) effects beyond the standard model (SM) in the decays \({\overline B ^0} \to \pi \tau \overline \upsilon ,{\overline B ^0} \to \rho \tau \overline \upsilon ,and{\overline B ^0} \to \tau \overline \upsilon \), based on an effective Hamiltonian including non-SM operators. Experimental constraints on different NP scenarios are provided by recent measurements of the ratios \({{R\left( {{D^{\left( * \right)}}} \right) \equiv B\left( {{{\overline B }^0} \to {D^{\left( * \right)}}\tau \overline \upsilon } \right)} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{R\left( {{D^{\left( * \right)}}} \right) \equiv B\left( {{{\overline B }^0} \to {D^{\left( * \right)}}\tau \overline \upsilon } \right)} {B\left( {{{\overline B }^0} \to {D^{\left( * \right)}}\mu \overline \upsilon } \right)}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {B\left( {{{\overline B }^0} \to {D^{\left( * \right)}}\mu \overline \upsilon } \right)}}\), as well as the branching \(B\left( {{B^ - } \to \tau \overline \upsilon } \right)\). The corresponding hadronic form factors and leptonic decay constants are calculated in the covariant confined quark model developed by us.     

Isospin analysis of charmless <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis>-meson decays

We discuss the determination of the CKM angle \(\alpha \) using the non-leptonic two-body decays \(B\rightarrow \pi \pi \), \(B\rightarrow \rho \rho \) and \(B\rightarrow \rho \pi \) using the latest data available. We illustrate the methods used in each case and extract the corresponding value of \(\alpha \). Combining all these elements, we obtain the determination \(\alpha _\mathrm{dir}={({86.2}_{-4.0}^{+4.4} \cup {178.4}_{-5.1}^{+3.9})}^{\circ }\). We assess the uncertainties associated to the breakdown of the isospin hypothesis and the choice of the statistical framework in detail. We also determine the hadronic amplitudes (tree and penguin) describing the QCD dynamics involved in these decays, briefly comparing our results with theoretical expectations. For each observable of interest in the \(B\rightarrow \pi \pi \), \(B\rightarrow \rho \rho \) and \(B\rightarrow \rho \pi \) systems, we perform an indirect determination based on the constraints from all the other observables available and we discuss the compatibility between indirect and direct determinations. Finally, we review the impact of future improved measurements on the determination of \(\alpha \).     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis>-meson decays into charmonium states in the ATLAS experiment

The paper presents several recent ATLAS results on the analyses of B-meson decays into charmonium states. These include the measurements of B⁺ mass and the fractions of J/ψ mesons produced in b-hadron decays in pp collisions at \(\sqrt s\) = 13 TeV in the center of mass system. The measured partial widths and polarizations in B _c ⁺ → J/ψD _s ^(*)+ decays and CP-violation parameters in B _s ⁰ → J/ψ? decays in pp collisions at 7 and 8 TeV in the center of mass system are also presented.     

Asymmetries in rare radiative leptonic and semileptonic decays of <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> mesons

The time-dependent and time-independent CP asymmetries $ A_{CP}^{B_q^0 \to f} \left( \tau \right) $ A_{CP}^{B_q^0 \to f} \left( \tau \right) and $ A_{CP}^{B_q^0 \to f} \left( {\hat s} \right) $ A_{CP}^{B_q^0 \to f} \left( {\hat s} \right) for rare semileptonic and radiative leptonic decays of B mesons are calculated by the method of helicity amplitudes. The sensitivity of CP asymmetries to various extensions of the Standard Model that have an operator basis that is identical to the operator basis of the Standard Model is investigated. It is shown that, by combining information about the form of the charge lepton asymmetry A _FB at small values of the square of the invariant dilepton mass and information about the average value of the time-dependent CP asymmetry, one can in principle determine the relative phases of the Wilson coefficients C _7γ , C _9V , and C _10A in the effective Hamiltonian for b → {d, s}ℓ⁺ℓ⁻ transitions.     

Quark diagram analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis>-meson emitting vector (<Emphasis Type="Italic">V</Emphasis>) and vector (<Emphasis Type="Italic">V</Emphasis>) mesons

This paper presents the two body weak nonleptonic decays of B-mesons emitting vector (V) and vector (V) mesons within the framework of the diagrammatic approaches at flavor SU(3) symmetry. We have investigated exclusive two body decays of B-meson using model independent quark diagram scheme. We have shown that the recent measurement of the two body exclusive decays of B-mesons can allow us to determine the magnitude and even sign of the QD amplitude for B → VV decays. Therefore, we become able to make few predictions for their branching fractions.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">s</Emphasis></Subscript> decay constants from moments of finite energy sum rules in QCD

We use an appropriate combination of moments of finite energy sum rules in QCD in order to compute the B _q -meson decay constants f _B and . We perform the calculation using a two-loop computation of the imaginary part of the pseudoscalar two point function in terms of the running bottom quark mass. The results are stable against the so-called QCD duality threshold, and they are in agreement with the estimates obtained from Borel transform QCD sum rules and lattice computations.Received: 28 July 2004, Revised: 10 September 2004, Published online: 23 November 2004PACS: 12.38.Bx, 12.38.LgSupported by MCYT-FEDER under contract FPA2002-00612.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> decays into light scalar particles and glueball

The recent observations of f ₀(980) in charmless B decays motivate further studies of scalar particle and glueball production in these processes. Amplitudes for charmless two-body B decays involving the members of the scalar nonet are presented based on the symmetries of the dominant penguin contribution. Different scenarios for the lightest scalar nonet are investigated in view of the presently available data. We describe the evidence from B decays for f ₀(1500) with a flavor octet like mixing and the hints towards the members of the nonet of lowest mass. There is further support for the hypothesis of a broad 0 ^{+ +} glueball acting as coherent background especially in . The estimated B decay rates into gluonic mesons represent a sizable fraction of the theoretically derived decay rate for .Received: 23 April 2004, Revised: 27 October 2004, Published online: 21 December 2004Work supported in part by the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds.     

Non-leptonic <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> decays into a charmed tensor meson

In the framework of factorization and the heavy quark effective theory, modes are analyzed. We adopt the result from the QCD sum rule calculation for the hadronic matrix elements at leading order of and . The QCD sum rule results are well compatible with the current data, with the prediction for the branching ratios and for . We give constraints on the interception and the slope parameter of the leading Isgur-Wise function from the experimental bounds. It is argued that the observation of non-zero directly measures the non-factorizable effects. Received: 18 July 2002 / Revised version: 21 October 2002 / Published online: 14 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: jplee@phya.yonsei.ac.kr     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis></Subscript> meson rare decays in the light-cone quark model

We investigate the rare decays \(B_{c} \rightarrow D_{s}(1968)\ell \overline{\ell}\) and \(B_{c}\rightarrow D_{s}^{*}(2317) \ell \overline{\ell}\) in the framework of the light-cone quark model (LCQM). The transition form factors are calculated in the space-like region and then analytically continued to the time-like region via exponential parametrization. The branching ratios and longitudinal lepton polarization asymmetries (LPAs) for the two decays are given and compared with each other. The results are helpful for investigating the structure of B _c meson and for testing the unitarity of CKM quark mixing matrix. All these results can be tested in the future experiments at the LHC.     

Polarization effects in rare <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis> decays

We review some aspects of rare kaon decays with the polarization of outgoing muons that allows one to study a number of interesting CP-odd or T-odd observables.     

Flavor changing neutral currents from lepton and <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> decays in the two Higgs doublet model

Constraints on the whole spectrum of lepton flavor violating vertices are shown in the context of the standard two Higgs doublet model. The vertex involving the e- mixing is much more constrained than the others, and the decays proportional to such a vertex are usually very suppressed. On the other hand, bounds on the quark sector are obtained from leptonic decays of the B_d,s⁰ mesons and from . We emphasize that although the B_d⁰- mixing restricts severely the d-b mixing vertex, the upper bound for this vertex could still give a sizable contribution to the decay with respect to the standard model contribution, from which we see that such a vertex could still play a role in the phenomenology.Received: 16 September 2004, Published online: 26 April 2005PACS: 12.60.Fr, 12.15.Mm, 12.15.Ff, 11.30.Hv     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>) Cosmology from <Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>-theory

From a macroscopic theory of the quantum vacuum in terms of conserved relativistic charges (generically denoted by q ^(a) with label a), we have obtained, in the low-energy limit, a particular type of f(R) model relevant to cosmology. The macroscopic quantum-vacuum theory allows us to distinguish between different phenomenological f(R) models on physical grounds. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis></Subscript> from the lattice with Wilson quarks

We report our results for the bag parameter B _K obtained from the quenched simulations on the lattice with Wilson fermions for three values of the lattice spacing. We implemented the method by which no subtraction of the mixing with other four-fermion operators is needed. Our final result, in terms of the renormalization group invariant bag parameter, is .Received: 9 July 2004, Revised: 27 July 2004, Published online: 21 September 2004     

The isospin-symmetry-breaking effects in <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis>4</Subscript> decays

The final-state interaction of pions in K _e4 decay allows to obtain the value of the isospin and angular-momentum-zero ππ scattering length a ₀⁰.We take into account the electromagnetic interaction of pions and isospin-symmetry-breaking effects caused by different masses of neutral and charged pions and estimate the impact of these effects on the procedure of scattering-length extraction from K _e4 decays.     

Two-photon decays of neutral <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> mesons within a model featuring one universal extra dimension

Contributions to the B _s(d) → γγ decay amplitude beyond the Standard Model are estimated within a model featuring one universal extra dimension. It is found that these additional contributions may amount to 6 or 7% of the branching ratios evaluated within the Standard Model.     

Annihilation semileptonic decays of <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> mesons and the model dependence on the choice of the distribution amplitude

The rare semileptonic B-meson decay B → ??⁺?^? is considered. The partial decay rate integrated over the 1–8 GeV² interval of the dilepton invariant mass squared is computed with a 10% systematic uncertainty arising from the model dependence of the distribution amplitude. The purely perturbative contribution to the decay probability amounts to ? ～ 10^?12, which suggests that the LHC experiments could observe the B → ??⁺?^? decay in a few years of data taking.     

Analysis of charmless two-body <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> decays in factorization-assisted topological-amplitude approach

We analyze charmless two-body non-leptonic B decays \(B \rightarrow PP, PV\) under the framework of a factorization-assisted topological-amplitude approach, where P(V) denotes a light pseudoscalar (vector) meson. Compared with the conventional flavor diagram approach, we consider the flavor SU(3) breaking effect assisted by a factorization hypothesis for topological diagram amplitudes of different decay modes, factorizing out the corresponding decay constants and form factors. The non-perturbative parameters of topology diagram magnitudes \(\chi \) and the strong phase \(\phi \) are universal; they can be extracted by \(\chi ^2\) fit from current abundant experimental data of charmless Bdecays. The number of free parameters and the \(\chi ^2\) per degree of freedom are both reduced compared with previous analyses. With these best fitted parameters, we predict branching fractions and CP asymmetry parameters of nearly 100 \(B_{u,d}\) and \(B_s\) decay modes. The long-standing \(\pi \pi \) and \(\pi K\)-CP puzzles are solved simultaneously.     

Radiative <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis>3</Subscript> decays revisited

Motivated by recent experimental results and ongoing measurements, we review the chiral perturbation theory prediction for decays. Special emphasis is given to the stability of the inner bremsstrahlung-dominated relative branching ratio versus the K _e3 form factors, and on the separation of the structure-dependent amplitude in differential distributions over the phase space. For the structure-dependent terms, an assessment of the order p ⁶ corrections is given, in particular, a full next-to-leading order calculation of the axial component is performed. The experimental analysis of the photon energy spectrum is discussed, and other potentially useful distributions are introduced.Received: 9 December 2004, Published online: 21 February 2005PACS: 13.20.Eb, 11.30.Rd, 12.39.Fe