INCLUSIVE DECAYS OF BOTTOM HADRONS IN NEW FORMULATION OF HEAVY QUARK EFFECTIVE FIELD THEORY

Abstract

We apply the new formulation of heavy quark effective field theory (HQEFT) to the inclusive decays of bottom hadrons. The long-term ambiguity of using heavy quark mass or heavy hadron mass for inclusive decays is clarified within the framework of the new formulation of HQEFT. The 1/mborder corrections are absent and contributions from [Formula: see text] terms are calculated in detail. This enables us to reliably extract the important CKM matrix element |Vcb| from the inclusive semileptonic decay rates. The resulting lifetime ratios [Formula: see text] and τ(Λb)/τ(B0) are found to well agree with the experimental data. We also calculate in detail the inclusive semileptonic branching ratios and the ratios of the τ and β decay rates as well as the charm countings in the B0, [Formula: see text] and Λbsystems. For B0decays, all the observables are found to be consistent with the experimental data. More precise data for the B0decays and further experimental measurements for the [Formula: see text] and Λbsystems will be very useful for testing the framework of new formulation of HQEFT at the level of higher order corrections.