We present first lattice QCD results for semileptonic form factors for the decays $B_c to eta_c l u$ and $B_c to J/psi l u$ over the full $q^2$ range, using both improved non-relativistic QCD (NRQCD) and fully relativistic (HISQ) formalisms. These can be viewed as prototype calculations for pseudoscalar to pseudoscalar and pseudoscalar to vector decays involving a $b to c$ transition. In particular we can use information from the relativistic computations to fix the NRQCD current normalisations, which can then be used in improved computations of decays such as $B to D l u$ and $B to D^* l u$.
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 a new study of the form factors for D -> K semileptonic decay from lattice QCD that allows us to compare the shape of the vector form factor to experiment and, for the first time, to extract V_cs using results from all experimental q^2 bins. The valence quarks are implemented with the Highly Improved Staggered Quark action on MILC configurations that include u, d and s sea quarks. The scalar and vector currents are nonperturbatively normalised and, using phased boundary conditions, we are able to cover the full q^2 range accessible to experiment. Our result is V_cs = 0.963(5)_{expt}(14)_{lattice}. We also demonstrate that the form factors are insensitive to whether the spectator quark is u/d or s, which has implications for other decay channels.
The semileptonic process, B --> pi l u, is studied via full QCD Lattice simulations. We use unquenched gauge configurations generated by the MILC collaboration. These include the effect of vacuum polarization from three quark flavors: the $s$ quark and two very light flavors ($u/d$) of variable mass allowing extrapolations to the physical chiral limit. We employ Nonrelativistic QCD to simulate the $b$ quark and a highly improved staggered quark action for the light sea and valence quarks. We calculate the form factors $f_+(q^2)$ and $f_0(q^2)$ in the chiral limit for the range 16 GeV$^2 leq q^2 < q^2_{max}$ and obtain $int^{q^2_{max}}_{16 GeV^2} [dGamma/dq^2] dq^2 / |v_{ub}|^2 = 1.46(35) ps^{-1}$. Combining this with a preliminary average by the Heavy Flavor Averaging Group (HFAG05) of recent branching fraction data for exclusive B semileptonic decays from the BaBar, Belle and CLEO collaborations, leads to $|V_{ub}| = 4.22(30)(51) times 10^{-3}$. PLEASE NOTE APPENDIX B with an ERRATUM, to appear in Physical Review D, to the published version of this e-print (Phys.Rev.D 73, 074502 (2006)). Results for the form factor $f_+(q^2)$ in the chiral limit have changed significantly. The last two sentences in this abstract should now read; We calculate the form factor $f_+(q^2)$ and $f_0(q^2)$ in the chiral limit for the range 16 Gev$^2 leq q^2 < q^2_{max}$ and obtain $int^{q^2_{max}}_{16 GeV^2} [dGamma/dq^2] dq^2 / |V_{ub}|^2 = 2.07(57)ps^{-1}$. Combining this with a preliminary average by the Heavy Flavor Averagibg Group (HFAG05) of recent branching fraction data for exclusive B semileptonic decays from the BaBar, Belle and CLEO collaborations, leads to $|V_{ub}| = 3.55(25)(50) times 10^{-3}$.
We develop a method to compute inclusive semi-leptonic decay rate of hadrons fully non-perturbatively using lattice QCD simulations. The sum over all possible final states is achieved by a calculation of the forward-scattering matrix elements on the lattice, and the phase-space integral is evaluated using their dependence on the time separation between two inserted currents. We perform a pilot lattice computation for the B_s -> X_c l nu decay with an unphysical bottom quark mass and compare the results with the corresponding OPE calculation. The method to treat the inclusive processes on the lattice can be applied to other processes, such as the lepton-nucleon inelastic scattering.
We present the first results for the Kl3 form factor from simulations with 2+1 flavours of dynamical domain wall quarks. Combining our result, namely f_+(0)=0.964(5), with the latest experimental results for Kl3 decays leads to |V_{us}|=0.2249(14), reducing the uncertaintity in this important parameter. For the O(p^6) term in the chiral expansion we obtain Delta f=-0.013(5).