Related papers: Theory of Beauty Lifetimes
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…
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…
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…
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…
Large preasymptotic effects in beauty decays have been found using heavy-quark and SU(3) symmetry, as well as experimental data on charmed hyperons. Contrary to rather uniform beauty-meson lifetimes, a much larger spread of beauty-baryon…
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…
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…
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 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 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…
`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…
Recent developments in the theory of weak decays of heavy flavours are reviewed. Applications to exclusive semileptonic B decays, the semileptonic branching ratio and charm counting, beauty lifetimes, and hadronic B decays are discussed.
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…
A review of the charmed meson and baryon lifetimes is presented. Our knowledge of charmed particle lifetimes has greatly improved over the past two years, a crucial r\^ole having been played by the E687 experiment at Fermilab, which has…
A possibility is considered of explaining the low experimental value of the ratio of the lifetimes tau(Lambda_b)/tau(B_d) by a new `centiweak' four-quark interaction, i.e with a strength on the order of 10^{-2}G_F. It is noted that the…
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…
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…
We review the theoretical status of the lifetime ratios $\tau_{B^+} / \tau_{B_d}$, $\tau_{B_s} / \tau_{B_d}$, $\tau_{\Lambda_b} / \tau_{B_d}$ and $\tau_{B_c}$ and of the mixing quantities $\Delta M_s$, $\Delta \Gamma_s$ and $\phi_s$.…
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…