Light-front quark model and analysis of the spectrum of photons from inclusive B → X s γ decays

Abstract

The electroweak-decay width Γ(B → X s γ) is investigated in a light-front (LF) constituent quark model. A new partonlike formula is derived that establishes a simple relation between Γ(B → X s γ) and the b → sγ decay width. A treatment of the b quark as an on-mass-shell particle and the inclusion of effects that arise from the transverse motion of the b quark in the B meson are basic features of this approach. Adopting different b-quark LF distribution functions, both phenomenological ones and those that are derived from constituent quark models, and neglecting perturbative corrections, we compute the photon energy spectra and the moments of the shape function. It is shown that the LF approach can be matched completely with a heavy-quark expansion (HQE), provided that the constituent b-quark mass is redefined in a way similar to that used in HQE to define the pole mass of the b quark. In this way, the correction to first order in 1/m b can be eliminated from the total width in agreement with the general statement of HQE. We also show that the photon energy spectra calculated in the LF approach agree well with those obtained in the model of Altarelli et al., provided that the same distribution function is used as an input in both cases. Despite the simplicity of the model, our results are in fairly good agreement both with HQE predictions and with available experimental data.