Improved Light-Cone QCD Sum Rule Analysis of Rare Decays Λ_b → Λ_γ and Λ_b → Λl~+ l~-

We present a systematic light-cone QCD sum rule study of the exclusive rare radiative decay Λ b →Λγ and rare semileptonic decay Λ b →Λl + l within the framework of the standard model. Although some light-cone sum rule (LCSR) studies on these rare processes can be found in different literatures, it is necessary to reanalyze them systematically for the reason that either the baryonic distribution amplitudes are improved or different interpolating currents for the Λ b baryon may lead to quite different results. In addition, the rare process Λ b →Λγ has not yet been analyzed by LCSR with the Ioffe-type current. Taking all these reasons into account, we perform LCSR calculations of both the processes with two types of interpolating currents. Our calculations show that the choice of the interpolating current for the Λ b baryon can affect the predictions significantly, especially for the rare radiative decay process.