B→D*lνandB→Dlνform factors in staggered chiral perturbation theory

Abstract

We calculate the B {yields} D and B {yields} D* form factors at zero recoil in Staggered Chiral Perturbation Theory. We consider heavy-light mesons in which only the light (u, d, or s) quark is staggered; current lattice simulations generally use a highly improved action such as the Fermilab or NRQCD action for the heavy (b or c) quark. We work to lowest order in the heavy quark expansion and to next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion. We present results for a partially quenched theory with three sea quarks in which there are no mass degeneracies (the ''1+1+1'' theory) and for a partially quenched theory in which the u and d sea quark masses are equal (the ''2+1'' theory). We also present results for full (2+1) QCD, along with a numerical estimate of the size of staggered discretization errors. Finally, we calculate the finite volume corrections to the form factors and estimate their numerical size in current lattice simulations.