Effective Field Theory and Heavy Quark Physics

These notes are based on five lectures presented at the 2004 Theoretical Advanced Study Institute (TASI) on ``Physics in D>=4''. After a brief motivation of flavor physics, they provide a pedagogical introduction to effective field theory, the effective weak Lagrangian, and the technology of renormalization-group improved perturbation theory. These general methods are then applied in the context of heavy-quarks physics, introducing the concepts of heavy-quark and soft-collinear effective theory.Comment: Lectures presented at TASI 2004 (39 pages

Uncertainties in the Determination of ∣Vcb∣|V_{cb}|

I discuss the theoretical uncertainties in the extraction of $|\,V_{cb}|$ from semilep\-to\-nic decays of $B$ mesons, taking into account the most recent theoretical developments. The main sources of uncertainty are identified both for the exclusive decay mode $B\to D^*\ell\,\bar\nu$ and for the inclusive channel $B\to X\,\ell\,\bar\nu$. From an analysis of the available experimental data, I obtain $|\,V_{cb}|_{\rm excl} = 0.041\pm 0.003_{\rm exp}\pm 0.002_{\rm th}$ from the exclusive mode, and $|\,V_{cb}|_{\rm incl} = 0.040\pm 0.001_{\rm exp}\pm 0.005_{\rm th}$ from the inclusive mode. I also give a prediction for the slope of the form factor ${\cal{F}}(w)$ at zero recoil, which is $\widehat\varrho^2=0.8\pm 0.3$.Comment: Proceedings of 1995 Moriond Conference on Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, 11 pages, 3 figures available as uu-encoded postscript file

Heavy Flavour Physics

The current status of the theory and phenomenology of weak decays of hadrons containing a heavy quark is reviewed. Exclusive semileptonic and rare decays of $B$ mesons are discussed, as well as inclusive decay rates, the semileptonic branching ratio of the $B$ meson, and the lifetimes of $b$-flavoured hadrons. Determinations of $\alpha_s$ from $\Upsilon$ spectroscopy are briefly presented.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, discussion of the theory of the B semileptonic branching ratio has been revise

Soft-Collinear Factorization and the Calculation of the B->Xs+gamma Rate

Using results on soft-collinear factorization for inclusive B-meson decay distributions, a systematic study of the partial B->Xs+gamma decay rate with a cut E_gamma<E_0 on photon energy is performed. For values E_0<1.9 GeV the rate can be calculated without reference to shape functions. The result depends on three large scales: m_b, \sqrt{m_b Delta}, and Delta=m_b-2E_0. The sensitivity to the scale Delta=1.1 GeV (for E_0=1.8 GeV) introduces significant uncertainties, which have been ignored in the past. Our new prediction for the B->Xs+gamma branching ratio with E_gamma<1.8 GeV is Br(B->Xs+gamma)=(3.44+-0.53+-0.35)*10^{-4}, where the errors refer to perturbative and parameter uncertainties, respectively. The implications of larger theory uncertainties for New Physics searches are explored with the example of the type-II two-Higgs-doublet model.Comment: Invited talk presented at the 39th Rencontres de Moriond: Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories (La Thuile, Italy, 21-28 March 2004), and at Continuous Advances in QCD 2004 (Minneapolis, Minnesota, 13--16 May 2004). 11 pages, 1 figur