NNLO QCD corrections to the $q^2$ spectrum of inclusive semileptonic $B$-meson decays

TL;DR

This paper computes advanced quantum chromodynamics (QCD) corrections to the $q^2$ spectrum in inclusive semileptonic B-meson decays, enabling more precise theoretical predictions aligned with recent experimental measurements.

Contribution

It provides the first complete NNLO QCD correction calculations for the $q^2$ spectrum in $b o c \, ext{semileptonic decays, including charm and lepton mass effects, with analytic results.

Findings

Analytic expressions for NNLO corrections in terms of polylogarithms.

Numerical results for $ au$, $ ext{e}$, and $ ext{mu}$ decay channels.

Enhanced theoretical precision for $q^2$ spectrum predictions.

Abstract

We calculate the next-to-next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the leptonic invariant mass ($q^2$) spectrum of semileptonic $b \to c$ inclusive decays, taking into account the mass of the charm quark and the charged lepton in the final state. We obtain analytic results in terms of generalized polylogarithms and present numerical studies of the $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^2)$ corrections to the $q^2$ spectrum of $b \to c \ell \bar \nu_\ell$ decays, for $\ell =e, \mu$ and $\tau$, in the kinetic scheme. Our computation can be used to incorporate the recent measurements of $q^2$ moments by Belle and Belle II into global fits of inclusive semileptonic $B$-decays.