Approaches to inclusive semileptonic $B_{(s)}$-meson decays from Lattice QCD

TL;DR

This paper explores nonperturbative lattice QCD methods to calculate inclusive semileptonic B-meson decay rates, aiming to improve Standard Model predictions and address CKM matrix element discrepancies.

Contribution

It introduces a pilot lattice computation for B_s to X_c l nu decays using relativistic-heavy-quark and domain-wall fermions, comparing Chebyshev and Backus-Gilbert methods for decay rate extraction.

Findings

Comparison of Chebyshev and Backus-Gilbert methods for decay rate calculation.

Initial results indicating the dominance of ground-state mesons in decay rates.

Outline of strategies to reduce systematic uncertainties in future computations.

Abstract

We address the nonperturbative calculation of the inclusive decay rate of semileptonic $B_{(s)}$-meson decays from lattice QCD. Precise Standard-Model predictions are key ingredients in searches for new physics, and this type of computation may eventually provide new insight into the long-standing tension between the inclusive and exclusive determinations of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix elements $|V_{cb}|$ and $|V_{ub}|$. We present results from a pilot lattice computation for $B_s \rightarrow X_c\, l \nu_l$, where the initial $b$ quark described by the relativistic-heavy-quark (RHQ) formalism on the lattice and the other valence quarks discretised with domain-wall fermions are simulated approximately at their physical quark masses. We compare two different methods for computing the decay rate from lattice data of Euclidean $n$-point functions, namely Chebyshev and Backus-Gilbert approaches. We further study how much the ground-state meson dominates the inclusive decay rate and indicate our strategy towards a computation with a more comprehensive systematic error budget.