Related papers: Beauty hadron lifetime ratios and the problem of $…
I discuss the heavy quark expansion for the inclusive widths of heavy-light hadrons, which predicts quite well the experimental ratios of B_q meson lifetimes. As for $\Lambda_b$, current determinations of ${\cal O}(m_b^{-3})$ contribution…
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…
We review current status of theoretical predictions of lifetimes of heavy hadrons in heavy-quark expansion. We present a calculation of subleading 1/m_b corrections to spectator effects in the ratios of beauty hadron lifetimes. We find that…
We present a calculation of subleading 1/m_b corrections to spectator effects in the ratios of beauty hadron lifetimes in heavy-quark expansion. We find that these effects are sizable and should be taken into account in systematic analyses…
The total decay widths of heavy mesons can be systematically calculated in terms of an expansion in the two parameters $1/m_Q$ and $\alpha_s(m_Q)$, where $Q=c,b$ denotes the heavy quark. The dominant contributions to meson lifetime…
We compute the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to spectator effects in the lifetime ratios of beauty hadrons. With respect to previous calculations, we take into account the non vanishing value of the charm quark mass. We obtain the…
Lifetime differences of heavy hadrons can be consistently computed in heavy-quark expansion. The leading effects appear through spectator interactions at order 1/m_b^3. We compute a well-defined subset of 1/m_b^4 corrections to the lifetime…
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…
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…
Theoretical predictions of beauty hadron lifetimes, based on the heavy quark expansion up to and including order 1/mb^2, do not to reproduce the experimental measurements of the lifetime ratios tau(B+)/tau(Bd) and tau(Lambdab)/tau(Bd).…
The heavy quark expansion implemented through an operator product expansion provides us with a treatment of inclusive decays of beauty and charm hadrons that is genuinely derived from QCD,though it requires one additional assumption, namely…
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…
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…
The lifetime splitting between the B^+ and B_d^0 mesons has recently been calculated in the next-to-leading order of QCD. These corrections are necessary for a reliable theoretical prediction, in particular for the meaningful use of…
The B meson lifetime ratios are calculated to the order of $1/m_b^3$ in the heavy quark expansion. The predictions of those ratios are dependent on four unknown hadronic parameters $B_1$, $B_2$, $\epsilon_1$ and $\epsilon_2$, where $B_1$…
A phenomenological analysis of lifetimes of bottom and charmed hadrons within the framework of the heavy quark expansion is performed. The baryon matrix element is evaluated using the bag model and the nonrelativistic quark model. We find…
We extend Voloshin's recent analysis of charmed and beauty hyperon decays based on SU(3) symmetry and heavy quark effective theory, by introducing a rather moderate model-dependence, in order to obtain more predictive power, e.g. the values…
`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…
We present a model-independent study of spectator effects, which are responsible for the lifetime differences between beauty hadrons. These effects can be parametrized in terms of hadronic matrix elements of four four-quark operators. For…
We develop perturbative QCD factorization theorems for inclusive b-hadron decays, in which radiative corrections characterized by the hadronic scale, the b-hadron mass, and the W boson mass are absorbed into a heavy hadron distribution…