Soft-Collinear Messengers: A New Mode in Soft-Collinear Effective Theory

It is argued that soft-collinear effective theory for processes involving both soft and collinear partons, such as exclusive B-meson decays, should include a new mode in addition to soft and collinear fields. These "soft-collinear messengers" can interact with both soft and collinear particles without taking them far off-shell. They thus can communicate between the soft and collinear sectors of the theory. The relevance of the new mode is demonstrated with an explicit example, and the formalism incorporating the corresponding quark and gluon fields into the effective Lagrangian is developed.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures. Extended Section 6, clarifying the relevance of different types of soft-collinear interaction

Charmless B→PPB \to PP decays and the new physics effects in the minimal supergravity model

By employing the QCD factorization approach, we calculate the new physics contributions to the branching radios of the two-body charmless $B \to PP$ decays in the framework of the minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) model. Within the considered parameter space, we find that (a) the supersymmetric (SUSY) corrections to the Wilson coefficients $C_k$ ($k=3-6$) are very small and can be neglected safely, but the leading order SUSY contributions to $C_{7\gamma}(M_W)$ and $C_{8g}(M_W)$ can be rather large and even change the sign of the corresponding coefficients in the standard model; (b) the possible SUSY contributions to those penguin-dominated decays in mSUGRA model can be as large as $30-50$; (c) for the well measured $B \to K \pi$ decays, the significant SUSY contributions play an important rule to improve the consistency of the theoretical predictions with the data; (d) for $B \to K \eta'$ decays, the theoretical predictions of the corresponding branching ratios become consistent with the data within one standard deviation after the inclusion of the large SUSY contributions in the mSUGRA model.Comment: 31 pages, Latex file, 4 ps and eps figures, minor corrections, final version to appear in Physical Review

Radiative B decays to the axial KK mesons at next-to-leading order

We calculate the branching ratios of $B\to K_1\gamma$ at next-to-leading order (NLO) of $\alpha_s$ where $K_1$ is the orbitally excited axial vector meson. The NLO decay amplitude is divided into the vertex correction and the hard spectator interaction part. The one is proportional to the weak form factor of $B\to K_1$ transition while the other is a convolution between light-cone distribution amplitudes and hard scattering kernel. Using the light-cone sum rule results for the form factor, we have \calB(B^0\to K_1^0(1270)\gamma)=(0.828\pm0.335)\times 10^{-5} and \calB(B^0\to K_1^0(1400)\gamma)=(0.393\pm0.151)\times 10^{-5}.Comment: 17pages, 4 figures. Minor changes, typos corrected. PRD accepted versio

The scalar gluonium correlator: large-beta_0 and beyond

The investigation of the scalar gluonium correlator is interesting because it carries the quantum numbers of the vacuum and the relevant hadronic current is related to the anomalous trace of the QCD energy-momentum tensor in the chiral limit. After reviewing the purely perturbative corrections known up to next-next-to-leading order, the behaviour of the correlator is studied to all orders by means of the large-beta_0 approximation. Similar to the QCD Adler function, the large-order behaviour is governed by the leading ultraviolet renormalon pole. The structure of infrared renormalon poles, being related to the operator product expansion are also discussed, as well as a low-energy theorem for the correlator that provides a relation to the renormalisation group invariant gluon condensate, and the vacuum matrix element of the trace of the QCD energy-momentum tensor.Comment: 14 pages, references added, discussion of IR renormalon pole at u=3 extended, similar version to appear in JHE

Convergence of the expansion of the Laplace-Borel integral in perturbative QCD improved by conformal mapping

The optimal conformal mapping of the Borel plane was recently used to accelerate the convergence of the perturbation expansions in QCD. In this work we discuss the relevance of the method for the calculation of the Laplace-Borel integral expressing formally the QCD Green functions. We define an optimal expansion of the Laplace-Borel integral in the principal value prescription and establish conditions under which the expansion is convergent.Comment: 10 pages, no figure

QCD analysis of inclusive B decay into charmonium

We compute the decay rates and $H$-energy distributions of $B$ mesons into the final state $H+X$, where $H$ can be any one of the $S$-wave or $P$-wave charmonia, at next-to-leading order in the strong coupling. We find that a significant fraction of the observed $J/\psi$, $\psi'$ and $\chi_c$ must be produced through $c\bar{c}$ pairs in a colour octet state and should therefore be accompanied by more than one light hadron. At the same time we obtain stringent constraints on some of the long-distance parameters for colour octet production.Comment: 40 pages, RevTeX, 4 figure

Bd^0(t)->pi^+pi^- and Bs^0(t)-> K^+ K^- Decays: A Tool to Measure New-Physics Parameters

If physics beyond the standard model is present in B decays, experimental measurements seem to suggest that it principally affects those processes with significant b->s penguin amplitudes. It was recently argued that, in general, such new-physics (NP) effects can be parametrized in terms of a single NP amplitude A^q and phase \Phi_q, for q=u,d,s,c. In this paper, we show that the study of the decays Bs(t) -> K^+ K^- and Bd(t) -> \pi^+\pi^- allows one to measure the NP parameters A^u and \Phi_u. We examine the implications for this method of the latest experimental results on these decays. If NP is found in Bs(t) -> K^+ K^-, it can be partially identified through measurements of Bs(t)-> K^0 \bar K^0.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX. Changed reference

Quarkonium momentum distributions in photoproduction and B decay

According to our present understanding many $J/\psi$ production processes proceed through a coloured $c\bar{c}$ state followed by the emission of soft particles in the quarkonium rest frame. The kinematic effect of soft particle emission is usually a higher-order effect in the non-relativistic expansion, but becomes important near the kinematic endpoint of quarkonium energy (momentum) distributions. In an intermediate region a systematic resummation of the non-relativistic expansion leads to the introduction of so-called `shape functions'. In this paper we provide an implementation of the kinematic effect of soft gluon emission which is consistent with the non-relativistic shape function formalism in the region where it is applicable and which models the extreme endpoint region. We then apply the model to photoproduction of $J/\psi$ and $J/\psi$ production in $B$ meson decay. A satisfactory description of $B$ decay data is obtained. For inelastic charmonium photoproduction we conclude that a sensible comparison of theory with data requires a transverse momentum cut larger than the currently used 1 GeV.Comment: latex, 45 pages; (v2) some typos corrected, version to appear in PR