Semileptonic and leptonic $B$ decays, circa 2016

TL;DR

This paper reviews the status of semileptonic and leptonic B decays as of 2016, covering measurements of CKM matrix elements, decays to excited charm states, and tau lepton channels.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive summary of experimental and theoretical progress in B decay measurements and CKM element determinations up to 2016.

Findings

Updated values of |V_{cb}| and |V_{ub}| from various methods

Analysis of decays to excited charm mesons

Results on B decays involving tau leptons

Abstract

We summarize the status of semileptonic and leptonic $B$ decays, including $|V_{cb}|$ and $|V_{ub}|$ exclusive and inclusive determinations, decays to excited states of the charm meson spectrum and decays into $\tau$ leptons.