Implications of Results from Z- and WW-Threshold Running

One year of Z- and WW-Threshold running of TESLA can provide the possibility to measure electroweak precision observables to an extremely high accuracy. At the Z peak O(10^9) Z bosons and about 6 10^8 b quarks can be collected. We employ the expected uncertainties \Delta MW = 6 MeV and \Delta sin(theta_W,eff) = 0.00001 and demonstrate in this way that very stringent consistency tests of the Standard Model and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model will be possible. The indirect determination of the Higgs-boson mass within the Standard Model can reach an accuracy of about 5 %. The 6 10^8 b quarks can be used to investigate various b physics topics.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, talk given at LCWS99, Sitges, Spain. Two clarifications, one reference adde

Shape Function Effects in B -> X_c l \nu_l

Owing to the fact that m_c^2 ~ m_b \Lambda_QCD, the endpoint region of the charged lepton energy spectrum in the inclusive decay B -> X_c l \nu_l is affected by the Fermi motion of the initial-state b quark bound in the B meson. This effect is described in QCD by shape functions. Including the mass of the final-state quark, we find that a different set of operators as employed in Ref. hep-ph/0205150 is needed for a consistent matching, when incorporating the subleading contributions in B -> X_q l \nu_l for both q = u and q = c. In addition, we modify the usual twist expansion in such a way that it yields a description of the lepton energy spectrum which is not just valid in the endpoint region, but over the entire phase space.Comment: 8 Pages, LaTeX, 2 figures; a few typos corrected and some clarifications added, final journal versio

Role of "Intrinsic Charm" in Semi-Leptonic B-Meson Decays

We discuss the role of so-called "intrinsic-charm" operators in semi-leptonic B-meson decays, which appear first at order 1/m_b^3 in the heavy quark expansion. We show by explicit calculation that -- at scales mu <= m_c -- the contributions from "intrinsic-charm" effects can be absorbed into short-distance coefficient functions multiplying, for instance, the Darwin term. Then, the only remnant of "intrinsic charm" are logarithms of the form ln(m_c^2/m_b^2), which can be resummed by using renormalization-group techniques. As long as the dynamics at the charm-quark scale is perturbative, alpha_s(m_c) << 1, this implies that no additional non-perturbative matrix elements aside from the Darwin and the spin-orbit term have to be introduced at order 1/m_b^3. Hence, no sources for additional hadronic uncertainties have to be taken into account. Similar arguments may be made for higher orders in the 1/m_b expansion.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, uses slashed.sty, slight modifications to match published versio

Non-perturbative effects in semi-leptonic B_c decays

We discuss the impact of the soft degrees of freedom inside the B_c meson on its rate in the semi-leptonic decay B_c -> X l nu_l where X denotes light hadrons below the D^0 threshold. In particular we identify contributions involving soft hadrons which are non-vanishing in the limit of massless leptons. These contributions become relevant for a measurement of the purely leptonic B_c decay rate, which due to helicity suppression involves a factor m_l^2 and thus is much smaller than the contributions involving soft hadrons.Comment: LaTeX, 22 pages, 1 figur

Radiatively corrected shape function for inclusive heavy hadron decays

We discuss the non-perturbative and the radiative corrections to inclusive B decays from the point of view known from QED corrections to high energy e^+ e^- processes. Here the leading contributions can be implemented through the so called ``radiator function'' which corresponds to the shape function known in heavy hadron decays. In this way some new insight into the origin of the shape function is obtained. As a byproduct, a parameterization of the radiatively corrected shape function is suggested which can be implemented in Monte Carlo studies of inclusive heavy hadron decays.Comment: LaTeX, uses a4, graphicx and psfrag, 10 pages. The complete paper is also available at http://www-ttp.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/Preprints

Perturbative and Non-perturbative Corrections to B→D(∗)lνB\to D^{(*)}l\nu

It is shown that certain double ratios introduced for computing semileptonic form factors are accurate to order $1/m_Q^2$, even when the action and current are accurate to order $1/m_Q$.Comment: Lattice99(heavyquarks); 3 + epsilon pp. LaTe

Sequential Flavour Symmetry Breaking

The gauge sector of the Standard Model (SM) exhibits a flavour symmetry which allows for independent unitary transformations of the fermion multiplets. In the SM the flavour symmetry is broken by the Yukawa couplings to the Higgs boson, and the resulting fermion masses and mixing angles show a pronounced hierarchy. In this work we connect the observed hierarchy to a sequence of intermediate effective theories, where the flavour symmetries are broken in a step-wise fashion by vacuum expectation values of suitably constructed spurion fields. We identify the possible scenarios in the quark sector and discuss some implications of this approach.Comment: 22 pages latex, no figure