Related papers: B-Hadron Lifetimes, Width Differences and Semilept…
The present status of the theoretical estimates of beauty hadron lifetime ratios and of width differences and CP-violation parameters in $B_d$ and $B_s$ systems is reviewed. In the last two years accurate lattice calculations and…
$B_d$ and $B_s$ meson systems play a fundamental role to test and improve our understanding of Standard Model flavor dynamics. The mixing parameters $\Delta m_{d,s}$ represent important constraints in the unitarity triangle analysis. Their…
We discuss two problems in the theory of heavy-quark decays: an understanding of the semileptonic branching ratio of $B$ mesons, and of the lifetime ratio $\tau(\Lambda_b)/\tau(B^0)$. We also present a model-independent study of spectator…
I review new results on particles containing a charm or bottom quark, focusing on measurements that give insight into the dynamics of the decay process. Leptonic and semileptonic decays are the simplest modes, and they provide detailed…
We present new results on the lifetimes and widths of $B$ hadrons based on 300-450 pb$^{-1}$ of data collected by CDF and D{\O}at the Fermilab Tevatron. Lifetimes were measured in semileptonic decays as well as fully reconstructed hadronic…
We review recent experimental results on lifetimes and hadronic decays of hadrons that contain $c$ and $b$ quarks. The theoretical implications of these results are also considered. An understanding of hadronic decays of heavy quarks is…
Precision measurements of b-hadron lifetimes are a key goal of the LHCb experiment. In the B_s sector, the measurement of the effective lifetimes for B_s mesons decaying to CP-odd, CP-even and flavor specific final states are essential for…
In this article, we review the current status of $B$-mixing and $b$-hadron lifetimes both from experimental and theoretical points of view. Furthermore, we discuss the phenomenological potential of these observables for deepening our…
Although the B(s) and Lambda(b) hadrons differ only in the spectator quarks from the well-studied B(d) and B(u) mesons, they provide a unique window on the physics of the b-quark. With no experiments presently running at the Z pole, hadron…
`Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old' Franz Kafka. In the last few years considerable progress has been achieved in our understanding of the decays of heavy flavour hadrons. One can now calculate inclusive transition…
I review the status of theoretical aspects of B-decays. The principal difficulty in interpreting the wealth of experimental data is the control of non-perturbative QCD effects, and the talk is focused on attempts to control these effects.…
The status of heavy quark expansions for charm and beauty lifetime ratios is reviewed. Taking note of the surprising semiquantitative success of this description for charm hadrons I interprete the new data on $\tau (D_s)$ and re-iterate the…
We update the Standard-Model predictions for several quantities related to $B_s - \bar B_s$ and $B_d - \bar B_d$ mixing. The mass and width differences in the $B_s$ system read $ \Delta M_s^{\rm SM} = (17.3 \pm 2.6) ps^{-1}$ and $\Delta…
We present estimates of the semileptonic widths of the $B_s$ and $\Lambda_b$ hadrons. We employ the latest fit to the $B$ inclusive semileptonic data, the heavy quark expansion and lattice QCD results. Our results suffer from large…
We discuss neutral B_{s,d} meson mixing and b-hadron lifetimes from the perspective of recent lattice calculations. In particular, we consider matrix elements which can be combined with measured \Delta M_{s,d} to constrain |V_{td}|, the…
Combined results on b-hadron lifetimes, b-hadron production rates, B^0_d - \bar{B^0_d} and B^0_s -\bar{B^0_s} oscillations, the decay width difference between the mass eigenstates of the B^0_s -\bar{B^0_s} system, and the values of the CKM…
As we approach the turn of the century, the Standard Model is still consistent with all our experimental observations and the path to a more complete picture of the fundamental constituents and their interactions has yet to be clearly…
A critical review of the theoretical understanding of the lifetimes of beauty hadrons is given. A model-independent analysis using the heavy-quark expansion allows for a description of the lifetime ratios tau(B-)/tau(B0) and…
Inclusive heavy-flavour decays can be described through $1/m_Q$ expansions derived from QCD with the help of an operator product expansion. I sketch their methodology and apply them first to semileptonic B decays; $|V(cb)|$ can be extracted…
We describe a theoretical approach to compute inclusive widths of heavy hadrons, based on a systematic expansion in the inverse powers of the heavy quark mass. The method reproduces quite well the experimental ratios of $B$ mesons…