Related papers: Heavy-Quark Effective Theory and Weak Matrix Eleme…
One important task in the field of flavor physics is to over-constrain the CKM matrix. To best extract CKM matrix elements, we need inputs from both experimental data and theoretical calculations. Latest knowledge about the CKM matrix shows…
Recent results on inclusive charmless semileptonic decays of B mesons are reviewed. Emphasis is given to measurements on the recoil of fully reconstructed B mesons, which allow to exploit several regions of phase space. Preliminary averages…
In these four lectures I review the theory and phenomenology of weak decays of quarks, and their r\^ole in the determination of the parameters of the Standard Model of particle physics, in testing subtle features of the theory and in…
Semileptonic decays of the B mesons provide an excellent probe for the weak and strong interactions of the bottom quark. The large data samples collected at the B Factories have pushed the experimental studies of the semileptonic B decays…
Weak decays of charm mesons has been used for studies of light quark spectroscopy, with particular emphasis on the J^{PC}=0^{++} states. Recent results on light scalars are summarized and some conceptual issues are discussed, especially the…
The theory of preasymptotic effects in inclusive decays of heavy flavors is briefly reviewed.
The application of the tensor formalism of the heavy quark effective theory (HQET) at leading order to strong decays of heavy hadrons is presented. Comparisons between experimental and theoretical predictions of ratios of decay rates for B…
Some emerging difficulties in the theoretical description of exclusive semileptonic $\bar B$ decays are discussed in the context of the quark model. While there are no unambiguous problems at this time, I discuss physics beyond the valence…
Semileptonic and leptonic B decays are analyzed in the framework of the relativistic quark model. Special attention is payed to the decays involving $\tau$ lepton. It is found that the calculated particular decay branching fractions are…
Some semileptonic weak decays of vector mesons are considered in the framework of the most popular quark models. The predicted branching ratios are unfortunately too small to make a study of these decays realistic at meson factories under…
Recent developments in the theory of heavy quarks are reviewed. In the area of heavy quark fragmentation, there has been progress in the study of both pertubative and nonperturbative processes, including the identification of new observable…
We review the experimental and theoretical status of baryons containing one heavy quark. The charm and bottom baryon states are classified and their mass spectra are listed. The appropriate theoretical framework for the description of heavy…
I review recent developments in lattice weak matrix element calculations. I focus on on $f_B$ (both with propagating quarks and in the static limit for the $b$ quark), semi-leptonic form factors for $D$ meson decay, form factors for $B \to…
The charm quark has unique properties that make it a very important probe of many facets of the Standard Model. New experimental information on charm decays is becoming available from dedicated experiments at charm factories, and through…
The heavy quark expansion implemented through an operator product expansion provides us with a treatment of inclusive decays of beauty and charm hadrons that is genuinely derived from QCD,though it requires one additional assumption, namely…
I briefly describe recent developments in the theoretical analysis of non leptonic and semileptonic B decays. For non leptonic transitions, I focus on factorization, from the naive formulation to the most recent achievements. As for…
An analysis of charm mesons decaying semileptonically via Flavor Changing Neutral Currents is presented. We calculate the Wilson coefficients within the Standard Model. A window in the decay distribution, where physics beyond the Standard…
The impact of rare lepton decays ($\mu \to e \gamma$, $\tau \to \mu \gamma$, >...) and rare $B$ and $K$ decays ($B\to \ell^+\ell^-$, $B\to \ell\nu$, $K\to \pi \nu\nu$, $K\to\ell\nu$, ...) in probing the existence of an underlying flavour…
These lectures provide an introductory overview of the dynamics of flavour-changing transitions. The main emphasis is put on present tests of the quark-mixing matrix structure and the phenomenological determination of its parameters. The…
I present some recent measurements of B meson decay rates to leptonic and charmless hadronic final states, as well as of CP-violation charge asymmetries and other features. I sketch the theoretical frameworks used to predict these, and…