No Arabic abstract
Recently, the first ever lattice computation of the $gamma W$-box radiative correction to the rate of the semileptonic pion decay allowed for a reduction of the theory uncertainty of that rate by a factor of $sim3$. A recent dispersion evaluation of the $gamma W$-box correction on the neutron also led to a significant reduction of the theory uncertainty, but shifted the value of $V_{ud}$ extracted from the neutron and superallowed nuclear $beta$ decay, resulting in a deficit of the CKM unitarity in the top row. A direct lattice computation of the $gamma W$-box correction for the neutron decay would provide an independent cross-check for this result but is very challenging. Before those challenges are overcome, we propose a hybrid analysis, converting the lattice calculation on the pion to that on the neutron by a combination of dispersion theory and phenomenological input. The new prediction for the universal radiative correction to free and bound neutron $beta$-decay reads $Delta_R^V=0.02477(24)$, in excellent agreement with the dispersion theory result $Delta_R^V=0.02467(22)$. Combining with other relevant information, the top-row CKM unitarity deficit persists.
The Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element $vert V_{cb}vert$ is extracted from exclusive semileptonic $B to D^{(*)}$ decays adopting a novel unitarity-based approach which allows to determine in a full non-perturbative way the relevant hadronic form factors (FFs) in the whole kinematical range. By using existing lattice computations of the $B to D^{(*)}$ FFs at small recoil, we show that it is possible to extrapolate their behavior also at large recoil without assuming any specific momentum dependence. Thus, we address the extraction of $vert V_{cb}vert$ from the experimental data on the semileptonic $B to D^{(*)} ell u_ell$, obtaining $vert V_{cb}vert = (40.7 pm 1.2 ) cdot 10^{-3}$ from $B to D$ and $vert V_{cb}vert = (40.6 pm 1.6 ) cdot 10^{-3}$ from $B to D^*$. Our results, though still based on preliminary lattice data for the $B to D^*$ form factors, are consistent within $sim 1$ standard deviation with the most recent inclusive determination $vert V_{cb} vert_{incl} = (42.00 pm 0.65) cdot 10^{-3}$. We investigate also the issue of Lepton Flavor Universality thanks to new theoretical estimates of the ratios $R(D^{(*)})$, namely $R(D) = 0.289(8)$ and $R(D^{*}) = 0.249(21)$. Our findings differ respectively by $sim 1.6sigma$ and $sim1.8sigma$ from the latest experimental determinations.
We calculate BSM hadronic matrix elements for $K^0-bar K^0$ mixing in the Dual QCD approach (DQCD). The ETM, SWME and RBC-UKQCD lattice collaborations find the matrix elements of the BSM density-density operators $mathcal{O}_i$ with $i=2-5$ to be rather different from their vacuum insertion values (VIA) with $B_2approx 0.5$, $B_3approx B_5approx 0.7$ and $B_4approx 0.9$ at $mu=3~GeV$ to be compared with $B_i=1$ in the VIA. We demonstrate that this pattern can be reconstructed within the DQCD through the non-perturbative meson evolution from very low scales, where factorization of matrix elements is valid, to scales of order $(1~GeV)$ with subsequent perturbative quark-gluon evolution to $mu=3~GeV$. This turns out to be possible in spite of a very different pattern displayed at low scales with $B_2=1.2$, $B_3=3.0$, $B_4=1.0$ and $B_5approx 0.2$ in the large $N$ limit, $N$ being the number of colours. Our results imply that the inclusion of meson evolution in the phenomenology of any non-leptonic transition like $K^0-bar K^0$ mixing and $Ktopipi$ decays is mandatory. While meson evolution, as demonstrated in our paper, is hidden in LQCD results, to our knowledge DQCD is the only analytic approach for non-leptonic transitions and decays which takes this important QCD dynamics into account.
In this work we discuss in detail the non-perturbative determination of the momentum dependence of the form factors entering in semileptonic decays using unitarity and analyticity constraints. The method contains several new elements with respect to previous proposals and allows to extract, using suitable two-point functions computed non-perturbatively, the form factors at low momentum transfer $q^2$ from those computed explicitly on the lattice at large $q^2$, without any assumption about their $q^2$-dependence. The approach will be very useful for exclusive semileptonic $B$-meson decays, where the direct calculation of the form factors at low $q^2$ is particularly difficult due to large statistical fluctuations and discretisation effects. As a testing ground we apply our approach to the semileptonic $D to K ell u_ell$ decay, where we can compare the results of the unitarity approach to the explicit direct lattice calculation of the form factors in the full $q^2$-range. We show that the method is very effective and that it allows to compute the form factors with rather good precision.
We present an overview of state of the art lattice quantum chromodynamcis calculations for heavy-light quantities. Special focus is given to the calculation of form factors for semi-leptonic decays of $B_{(s)}$ and $D$ mesons, the extraction of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements $|V_{ub}|$ and $|V_{cb}|$ as well as the determination of $R(D^{(*)})$ testing the universality of lepton flavors in $bto c$ transitions. In addition we report on the determination of $b$ and $c$ quark masses as well as on neutral $B_{(s)}$ meson mixing. Recent results are summarized and new developments highlighted.
We demonstrate that a nonzero strangeness contribution to the spacelike electromagnetic form factor of the nucleon is evidence for a strange-antistrange asymmetry in the nucleons light-front wave function, thus implying different nonperturbative contributions to the strange and antistrange quark distribution functions. A recent lattice QCD calculation of the nucleon strange quark form factor predicts that the strange quark distribution is more centralized in coordinate space than the antistrange quark distribution, and thus the strange quark distribution is more spread out in light-front momentum space. We show that the lattice prediction implies that the difference between the strange and antistrange parton distribution functions, $s(x)-bar{s}(x)$, is negative at small-$x$ and positive at large-$x$. We also evaluate the strange quark form factor and $s(x)-bar{s}(x)$ using a baryon-meson fluctuation model and a novel nonperturbative model based on light-front holographic QCD. This procedure leads to a Veneziano-like expression of the form factor, which depends exclusively on the twist of the hadron and the properties of the Regge trajectory of the vector meson which couples to the quark current in the hadron. The holographic structure of the model allows us to introduce unambiguously quark masses in the form factors and quark distributions preserving the hard scattering counting rule at large-$Q^2$ and the inclusive counting rule at large-$x$. Quark masses modify the Regge intercept which governs the small-$x$ behavior of quark distributions, therefore modifying their small-$x$ singular behavior. Both nonperturbative approaches provide descriptions of the strange-antistrange asymmetry and intrinsic strangeness in the nucleon consistent with the lattice QCD result.