The QCD NLO Corrections to Inclusive $B^*_c$ Production in $Z^{0}$ Decays

TL;DR

This paper computes the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the inclusive production of $B^*_c$ mesons in $Z^0$ decays, showing significant enhancement and reduced scale dependence, advancing precision in heavy quarkonium production predictions.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed NLO QCD correction calculation for $B^*_c$ production in $Z^0$ decays within the NRQCD framework, including technical insights on vector and axial-vector contributions.

Findings

NLO corrections increase decay width by about 50%.

Renormalization scale dependence is significantly reduced.

Uncertainties from quark masses and scale are analyzed.

Abstract

We calculate the next-to-leading order(NLO) quantum chromodynamics(QCD) corrections to the inclusive process of $Z_0 \rightarrow B^*_c+\bar{c}+b$ under the non-relativistic QCD(NRQCD) factorization scheme. Technical details about contributions from vector and axial-vector currents in dimensional regularization scheme are discussed. Numerical calculation shows that the NLO correction enhances the leading-order decay width by about 50%, and the dependence on renormalization scale $\mu$ is reduced. The uncertainties induced by quark masses and the renormalization scale $\mu$ are also analyzed.