https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s2005-02141-1
theoretical physics
Renormalization-group improved calculation of the 
branching ratio
Institute for High-Energy Phenomenology, Newman Laboratory for Elementary-Particle Physics, Cornell University, NY 14853, Ithaca, USA
Using results on soft-collinear factorization for inclusive B-meson decay distributions, a systematic study of the partial decay rate with a cut 
on photon energy is performed. For values of E
0 below about 1.9 GeV, the rate can be calculated without reference to shape functions using a multi-scale operator product expansion (MSOPE). The transition from the shape-function region to the MSOPE region is studied analytically. The resulting prediction for the branching ratio depends on three large scales: m
b
, 
, and 
. Logarithms associated with these scales are resummed at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic order. While power corrections in 
turn out to be small, the sensitivity to the scale 
GeV (for 
GeV) introduces significant perturbative uncertainties, which so far have been ignored. The new theoretical prediction for the branching ratio with 
GeV is 
, where the first error is an estimate of perturbative uncertainties and the second one reflects uncertainties in input parameters. With this cut 
of all events are contained. When this fraction is combined with the previously best prediction for the total decay rate, one obtains 
, with a somewhat less conservative estimate of parametric uncertainties. The implications of larger theory uncertainties for new physics searches are briefly explored with the example of the type-II two-Higgs-doublet model, for which the lower bound on the charged-Higgs mass is reduced compared with previous estimates to approximately 200 GeV at 95% confidence level.
© Springer-Verlag, 2005
