Chiral loop corrections to weak decays of B mesons to positive and negative parity charmed mesons

We determine chiral loop corrections to the B meson decay amplitudes to positive and negative parity charmed mesons within a framework which combines heavy quark and chiral symmetries. Then we investigate the impact of the lowest-lying positive parity heavy mesons on the determination of the Isgur-Wise functions. The corrections due to these states are competitive with the contributions arising from K and eta meson loops. Since lattice studies rely on the chiral behavior of the amplitudes we discuss the chiral limit of our results. We find that the determination of the slope at zero recoil of the Isgur-Wise function xi for the B transition to negative parity charm mesons is moderately affected by the inclusion of new states, while the slope of tau_{1/2} is affected significantly more.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

The Ademollo-Gatto theorem for lattice semileptonic decays

We present the results of the calculation of the Kl3 semileptonic form factor at zero momentum transfer, f(0), obtained at one-loop in partially quenched Chiral Perturbation Theory (with either Nf=2, or Nf=3, and with generic valence and sea quark masses). We show that for Nf=2, when the masses of the valence and sea light quarks are equal, the correction is of the order (MK^2-Mpi^2)^3. The formulae presented here can be useful for the mass extrapolation of the results obtained in lattice simulations to the physical point.Comment: 7 page

Continuum Determination of Light Quark Masses from Quenched Lattice QCD

We compute the strange and the average up/down quark masses in the quenched approximation of lattice QCD, by using the O(a)-improved Wilson action and operators and by implementing the non-perturbative renormalization. Our computation is performed at four values of the lattice spacing, from which we could extrapolate to the continuum limit. Our final result for the strange quark mass (in the MSbar scheme) is ms(2 GeV) = (106 +/- 2 +/- 8) MeV. For the average up/down quark mass we have ml(2 GeV) = (4.4 +/- 0.1 +/- 0.4) MeV. The ratio ms/ml = (24.3 +/- 0.2 +/- 0.6).Comment: 14 pages, 3 PostScript figure

Lattice renormalisation of O(a) improved heavy-light operators

The analytical expressions and the numerical values of the renormalisation constants of ${\cal O}(a)$ improved static-light currents are given at one-loop order of perturbation theory in the framework of Heavy Quark Effective Theory: the static quark is described by the HYP action and the light quark is described either with the Clover or the Neuberger action. These factors are relevant to extract from a lattice computation the decay constants $f_B$, $f_{B_S}$ and the set of bag parameters $B_i$ associated with $B-\bar{B}$ mixing phenomenology in the Standard Model and beyond.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables; few comments and references added; version to be published in Phys Rev

Constraints on R-parity violating supersymmetry from neutral meson mixing

Upper bounds at the weak scale are put on all $\lambda'_{ijk}\lambda'_{imn}$ type products of R-parity violating supersymmetry that may affect K-Kbar and B-Bbar mixing. We constrain all possible products, including some not considered before, using next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the mixing amplitudes. Constraints are obtained for both real and imaginary parts of the couplings. We also discuss briefly some correlated decay channels which should be investigated in future experiments.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, uses revtex. Constraints updated, and new constraints adde

Remarks on the hadronic matrix elements relevant to the SUSY K-Kbar mixing amplitude

We compute the 1-loop chiral corrections to the bag parameters which are needed for the discussion of the SUSY K-Kbar mixing problem in both finite and infinite volume. We then show how the bag parameters can be combined among themselves and with some auxiliary quantities and thus sensibly reduce the systematic errors due to chiral extrapolations as well as those due to finite volume artefacts present in the results obtained from lattice QCD. We also show that in some cases these advantages remain as such even after including the 2-loop chiral corrections. Similar discussion is also made for the K --> pi electro-weak penguin operators.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures [added 1 reference and a discussion about the impact of the NNLO chiral corrections to the "golden ratios" (c.f. Sec.6)

Semileptonic Hyperon Decays on the Lattice: an Exploratory Study

We present preliminary results of an exploratory lattice study of the vector form factor $f_1(q^2 = 0)$ relevant for the semileptonic hyperon decay $\Sigma^{-} --> n l \nu$. This study is based on the same method used for the extraction of $f^+(0)$ for the decay $K^0 --> \pi^{-} l \nu$. The main purpose of this study is to test the method for hyperon form factors in order to estimate the precision that can be reached and the importance of SU(3)-breaking effects.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, talk presented at Lattice2004(weak), Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, 21-26 June 200

B Physics on the Lattice: Present and Future

Recent experimental measurements and lattice QCD calculations are now reaching the precision (and accuracy) needed to over-constrain the CKM parameters $\bar\rho$ and $\bar\eta$. In this brief review, I discuss the current status of lattice QCD calculations needed to connect the experimental measurements of $B$ meson properties to quark flavor-changing parameters. Special attention is given to $B\to\pi\ell\nu$, which is becoming a competitive way to determine $|V_{ub}|$, and to $B^0-\bar{B^0}$ mixings, which now include reliable extrapolation to the physical light quark mass. The combination of the recent measurement of the $B_s$ mass difference and current lattice calculations dramatically reduces the uncertainty in $|V_{td}|$. I present an outlook for reducing dominant lattice QCD uncertainties entering CKM fits, and I remark on lattice calculations for other decay channels.Comment: Invited brief review for Mod. Phys. Lett. A. 15 pages. v2: typos corrected, references adde

A strategy for implementing non-perturbative renormalisation of heavy-light four-quark operators in the static approximation

We discuss the renormalisation properties of the complete set of $\Delta B = 2$ four-quark operators with the heavy quark treated in the static approximation. We elucidate the role of heavy quark symmetry and other symmetry transformations in constraining their mixing under renormalisation. By employing the Schroedinger functional, a set of non-perturbative renormalisation conditions can be defined in terms of suitable correlation functions. As a first step in a fully non-perturbative determination of the scale-dependent renormalisation factors, we evaluate these conditions in lattice perturbation theory at one loop. Thereby we verify the expected mixing patterns and determine the anomalous dimensions of the operators at NLO in the Schroedinger functional scheme. Finally, by employing twisted-mass QCD it is shown how finite subtractions arising from explicit chiral symmetry breaking can be avoided completely.Comment: 41 pages, 6 figure

B-parameters of the complete set of matrix elements of (Delta B = 2) operators from the lattice

We compute on the lattice the ``bag'' parameters of the five (Delta B = 2) operators of the supersymmetric basis, by combining their values determined in full QCD and in the static limit of HQET. The extrapolation of the QCD results from the accessible heavy-light meson masses to the B-meson mass is constrained by the static result. The matching of the corresponding results in HQET and in QCD is for the first time made at NLO accuracy in the MSbar(NDR) renormalization scheme. All results are obtained in the quenched approximation.Comment: 27 pages (5 figures