Charged and neutral $$ {\overline{B}}_{u,d,s} $$ → γ form factors from light cone sum rules at NLO

We present the first analytic $$ \mathcal{O}\left({\alpha}_s\right) $$ O α s -computation at twist-1,2 of the $$ {\overline{B}}_{u,d,s} $$ B ¯ u , d , s → γ form factors within the framework of sum rules on the light-cone. These form factors describe the charged decay $$ {\overline{B}}_u\to \gamma {\mathrm{\ell}}^{-}\overline{v} $$ B ¯ u → γ ℓ − v ¯ , contribute to the flavour changing neutral currents $$ {\overline{B}}_{d,s}\to \gamma {\mathrm{\ell}}^{+}{\mathrm{\ell}}^{-} $$ B ¯ d , s → γ ℓ + ℓ − and serve as inputs to more complicated processes. We provide a fit in terms of a z-expansion with correlation matrix and extrapolate the form factors to the kinematic endpoint by using the gBB*γ couplings as a constraint. Analytic results are available in terms of multiple polylogarithms in the supplementary material. We give binned predictions for the $$ {\overline{B}}_u\to \gamma {\mathrm{\ell}}^{-}\overline{v} $$ B ¯ u → γ ℓ − v ¯ branching ratio along with the associated correlation matrix. By comparing with three SCET-computations we extract the inverse moment B-meson distribution amplitude parameter λB = 360(110) MeV. The uncertainty thereof could be improved by a more dedicated analysis. In passing, we extend the photon distribution amplitude to include quark mass corrections with a prescription for the magnetic vacuum susceptibility, χq, compatible with the twist-expansion. The values χq = 3.21(15) GeV−2 and χs = 3.79(17) GeV−2 are obtained.

QCD factorization of the four-lepton decay $$B^-\rightarrow \ell \bar{\nu }_\ell \ell ^{(\prime )} \bar{\ell }^{(\prime )}$$

Motivated by the first search for the rare charged-current B decay to four leptons, $$\ell \bar{\nu }_\ell \ell ^{(\prime )} \bar{\ell }^{(\prime )}$$ ℓ ν ¯ ℓ ℓ ( ′ ) ℓ ¯ ( ′ ) , we calculate the decay amplitude with factorization methods. We obtain the $$B\rightarrow \gamma ^*$$ B → γ ∗ form factors, which depend on the invariant masses of the two lepton pairs, at leading power in an expansion in $$\Lambda _\mathrm{QCD}/m_b$$ Λ QCD / m b to next-to-leading order in $$\alpha _s$$ α s , and at $$\mathcal {O}(\alpha _s^0)$$ O ( α s 0 ) at next-to-leading power. Our calculations predict branching fractions of a few times $$10^{-8}$$ 10 - 8 in the $$\ell ^{(\prime )} \bar{\ell }^{(\prime )}$$ ℓ ( ′ ) ℓ ¯ ( ′ ) mass-squared bin up to $$q^2=1~$$ q 2 = 1 GeV$$^2$$ 2 with $$n_+q>3~$$ n + q > 3 GeV. The branching fraction rapidly drops with increasing $$q^2$$ q 2 . An important further motivation for this investigation has been to explore the sensitivity of the decay rate to the inverse moment $$\lambda _B$$ λ B of the leading-twist B meson light-cone distribution amplitude. We find that in the small-$$q^2$$ q 2 bin, the sensitivity to $$\lambda _B$$ λ B is almost comparable to $$B^- \rightarrow \mathrm {\ell }^- \bar{\nu }_{\mathrm {\ell }}\gamma $$ B - → ℓ - ν ¯ ℓ γ when $$\lambda _B$$ λ B is small, but with an added uncertainty from the light-meson intermediate resonance contribution. The sensitivity degrades with larger $$q^2$$ q 2 .

Distribution amplitudes of heavy mesons and quarkonia on the light front

The ladder kernel of the Bethe–Salpeter equation is amended by introducing a different flavor dependence of the dressing functions in the heavy-quark sector. Compared with earlier work this allows for the simultaneous calculation of the mass spectrum and leptonic decay constants of light pseudoscalar mesons, the $$D_u$$ D u , $$D_s$$ D s , $$B_u$$ B u , $$B_s$$ B s and $$B_c$$ B c mesons and the heavy quarkonia $$\eta _c$$ η c and $$\eta _b$$ η b within the same framework at a physical pion mass. The corresponding Bethe–Salpeter amplitudes are projected onto the light front and we reconstruct the distribution amplitudes of the mesons in the full theory. A comparison with the first inverse moment of the heavy meson distribution amplitude in heavy quark effective theory is made.

Inverse moment of the Bs-meson distribution amplitude from QCD sum rule

We derive a QCD sum rule for the inverse moment of the Bs-meson light-cone distribution amplitude in HQET. Within this method, the SU(3)f l symmetry violation is traced to the strange quark mass and to the difference between strange and nonstrange quark condensate densities. We predict the ratio of inverse moments λBs/λB = 1.19 ± 0.14 which can be used in various applications of these distribution amplitudes to the analyses of Bs-meson decays, provided an accurate value of λB is available from other sources, such as the B → ℓνℓγ decay.