Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Next-to-leading-order QCD calculations of B→A form factors with higher-twist corrections

Fang-Zhou Di* and Yu-Hao Liu†

  • *Contact author: difangzhou@mail.nankai.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: liuyh@mail.nankai.edu.cn

Phys. Rev. D 112, 116003 – Published 2 December, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/k5qy-rc5j

Abstract

Applying the light-cone sum rules approach, the next-to-leading-order corrections to B→A form factors are calculated with the twist-two and twist-three B-meson light-cone distribution amplitudes (LCDAs) at leading power in Λ/mb. At one-loop level, the vacuum-to-B-meson correlation functions defined with interpolating currents for the p-wave axial-vector meson are factorized into short-distance coefficients and the distribution amplitudes of the B meson, among which the hard coefficients for A0-type currents and μ-dependent jet functions entering correlation functions Πμ,∥(T+T˜), Πδμ,⊥(V−A), and Πδμ,⊥(T+T˜) are identical to the corresponding ones of B→V in soft-collinear effective theory (SCET). In addition, Πμ,∥(V−A) and Πμ,∥(T+T˜) coincide with the results of B→π,K under the limit mq→0 up to one-loop accuracy. Then the subleading-power corrections to B→A form factors are computed with the higher-twist B-meson LCDAs at tree level up to the twist-six accuracy. Furthermore, we predict the q2 dependence of B→A form factors via the Bourrely-Caprini-Lellouch z-series expanding parametrization to compute several physical observables including branching ratios of semileptonic B→Aℓν¯ℓ and B→Aνℓν¯ℓ processes, transverse asymmetries, forward-backward asymmetries, and lepton-flavor universality observables employing the given mixing angles θK=−34°, θ1P1=28°, and θ3P1=23°. We also compare our theory calculations with the results from other methods.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (90)

  1. K.-C. Yang, Light-cone distribution amplitudes of axial-vector mesons, Nucl. Phys. B776, 187 (2007).
  2. R.-H. Li, C.-D. Lu, and W. Wang, Transition form factors of B decays into p-wave axial-vector mesons in the perturbative QCD approach, Phys. Rev. D 79, 034014 (2009).
  3. Particle Data Group, Review of particle physics, Phys. Rev. D 110, 030001 (2024).
  4. Y. Gao, Y. Zhang, B. Zheng, Z.-H. Zhang, W. Yan, and X. Li, Evaluation of the θK and the mixing angle θh1, arXiv:1911.06967.
  5. H.-Y. Cheng, Mixing angle of K1 axial vector mesons, Proc. Sci., Hadron2013 (2013) 090 [arXiv:1311.2370].
  6. M. Suzuki, Strange axial-vector mesons, Phys. Rev. D 47, 1252 (1993).
  7. F. Divotgey, L. Olbrich, and F. Giacosa, Phenomenology of axial-vector and pseudovector mesons: Decays and mixing in the kaonic sector, Eur. Phys. J. A 49, 135 (2013).
  8. L. Burakovsky and J. T. Goldman, Constraint on axial—vector meson mixing angle from nonrelativistic constituent quark model, Phys. Rev. D 56, R1368 (1997).
  9. L. Burakovsky and J. T. Goldman, Towards resolution of the enigmas of P wave meson spectroscopy, Phys. Rev. D 57, 2879 (1998).
  10. H. Dag, A. Ozpineci, A. Cagil, and G. Erkol, Theoretical determination of K1(1270,1400) mixing angle in QCD, J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 348, 012012 (2012).
  11. H. G. Blundell, S. Godfrey, and B. Phelps, Properties of the strange axial mesons in the relativized quark model, Phys. Rev. D 53, 3712 (1996).
  12. H.-Y. Cheng, Revisiting axial-vector meson mixing, Phys. Lett. B 707, 116 (2012).
  13. K.-C. Yang, 1++ Nonet Singlet-Octet mixing angle, strange quark mass, and strange quark condensate, Phys. Rev. D 84, 034035 (2011).
  14. J. J. Dudek, R. G. Edwards, B. Joo, M. J. Peardon, D. G. Richards, and C. E. Thomas, Isoscalar meson spectroscopy from lattice QCD, Phys. Rev. D 83, 111502 (2011).
  15. Q. Chang, D.-H. Yao, and X. Liu, Studying the B0→J/ψh1 decays with h1(1170)−h1(1415) mixing in the perturbative QCD approach, Eur. Phys. J. C 85, 292 (2025).
  16. Z.-G. Wang, Analysis of the B→a1(1260) form-factors with light-cone QCD sum rules, Phys. Lett. B 666, 477 (2008).
  17. H. Hatanaka and K.-C. Yang, B→K1γ decays in the light-cone QCD sum rules, Phys. Rev. D 77, 094023 (2008).
  18. K.-C. Yang, Form-factors of Bu,d,s decays into P-wave axial-vector mesons in the light-cone sum rule approach, Phys. Rev. D 78, 034018 (2008).
  19. T. M. Aliev, M. Savci, and K.-C. Yang, Tensor form factors of B→K1 transition from QCD light cone sum rules, Phys. Lett. B 700, 55 (2011).
  20. S. Momeni, R. Khosravi, and F. Falahati, Flavor changing neutral current transition of B→a1 with light-cone sum rules, Phys. Rev. D 95, 016009 (2017).
  21. M. Beneke and T. Feldmann, Symmetry breaking corrections to heavy to light B meson form-factors at large recoil, Nucl. Phys. B592, 3 (2001).
  22. C. W. Bauer, S. Fleming, D. Pirjol, and I. W. Stewart, An effective field theory for collinear and soft gluons: Heavy to light decays, Phys. Rev. D 63, 114020 (2001).
  23. M. Beneke, Y. Kiyo, and D. s. Yang, Loop corrections to subleading heavy quark currents in SCET, Nucl. Phys. B692, 232 (2004).
  24. T. Becher and R. J. Hill, Loop corrections to heavy-to-light form-factors and evanescent operators in SCET, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2004) 055.
  25. R. Bonciani and A. Ferroglia, Two-loop QCD corrections to the heavy-to-light quark decay, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2008) 065.
  26. H. M. Asatrian, C. Greub, and B. D. Pecjak, NNLO corrections to B¯→Xuℓν¯ in the shape-function region, Phys. Rev. D 78, 114028 (2008).
  27. M. Beneke, T. Huber, and X. Q. Li, Two-loop QCD correction to differential semi-leptonic b→u decays in the shape-function region, Nucl. Phys. B811, 77 (2009).
  28. G. Bell, NNLO corrections to inclusive semileptonic B decays in the shape-function region, Nucl. Phys. B812, 264 (2009).
  29. G. Bell, M. Beneke, T. Huber, and X.-Q. Li, Heavy-to-light currents at NNLO in SCET and semi-inclusive B¯→Xsl+l− decay, Nucl. Phys. B843, 143 (2011).
  30. R. J. Hill, T. Becher, S. J. Lee, and M. Neubert, Sudakov resummation for subleading SCET currents and heavy-to-light form-factors, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2004) 081.
  31. M. Beneke and D. Yang, Heavy-to-light B meson form-factors at large recoil energy: Spectator-scattering corrections, Nucl. Phys. B736, 34 (2006).
  32. J. C. Collins, Sudakov form-factors, Adv. Ser. Dir. High Energy Phys. 5, 573 (1989).
  33. J. Botts and G. F. Sterman, Hard elastic scattering in QCD: Leading behavior, Nucl. Phys. B325, 62 (1989).
  34. H. Li, Y.-L. Shen, and Y.-M. Wang, Next-to-leading-order corrections to B→π form factors in kT factorization, Phys. Rev. D 85, 074004 (2012).
  35. H.-N. Li, Y.-L. Shen, and Y.-M. Wang, Resummation of rapidity logarithms in B meson wave functions, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2013) 008.
  36. S. Cheng, Y.-Y. Fan, X. Yu, C.-D. Lü, and Z.-J. Xiao, The NLO twist-3 contributions to B→π form factors in kT factorization, Phys. Rev. D 89, 094004 (2014).
  37. H. Li and Y.-M. Wang, Non-dipolar Wilson links for transverse-momentum-dependent wave functions, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2015) 013.
  38. A. Khodjamirian, T. Mannel, and N. Offen, B-meson distribution amplitude from the B→π form-factor, Phys. Lett. B 620, 52 (2005).
  39. F. De Fazio, T. Feldmann, and T. Hurth, Light-cone sum rules in soft-collinear effective theory, Nucl. Phys. B733, 1 (2006).
  40. A. Khodjamirian, T. Mannel, and N. Offen, Form-factors from light-cone sum rules with B-meson distribution amplitudes, Phys. Rev. D 75, 054013 (2007).
  41. F. De Fazio, T. Feldmann, and T. Hurth, SCET sum rules for B→P and B→V transition form factors, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2008) 031.
  42. Y.-M. Wang and Y.-L. Shen, QCD corrections to B→π form factors from light-cone sum rules, Nucl. Phys. B898, 563 (2015).
  43. Y.-L. Shen, Y.-B. Wei, and C.-D. Lü, Renormalization group analysis of B→π form factors with B-meson light-cone sum rules, Phys. Rev. D 97, 054004 (2018).
  44. C.-D. Lü, Y.-L. Shen, Y.-M. Wang, and Y.-B. Wei, QCD calculations of B→π,K form factors with higher-twist corrections, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2019) 024.
  45. N. Gubernari, A. Kokulu, and D. van Dyk, B→P and B→V form factors from B-meson light-cone sum rules beyond leading twist, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2019) 150.
  46. J. Gao, C.-D. Lü, Y.-L. Shen, Y.-M. Wang, and Y.-B. Wei, Precision calculations of B→V form factors from soft-collinear effective theory sum rules on the light-cone, Phys. Rev. D 101, 074035 (2020).
  47. Y.-L. Shen and Y.-B. Wei, B⟶P,V form factors with the B-meson light-cone sum rules, Adv. High Energy Phys. 2022, 2755821 (2022).
  48. X.-Y. Han, L.-S. Lu, C.-D. Lü, Y.-L. Shen, and B.-X. Shi, Next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the form factors of B to scalar meson decays, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2023) 091.
  49. J. Gao, U.-G. Meißner, Y.-L. Shen, and D.-H. Li, Precision calculations of B→K* form factors from SCET sum rules beyond leading-power contributions, Phys. Rev. D 112, 014032 (2025).
  50. Y.-M. Wang, Y.-B. Wei, Y.-L. Shen, and C.-D. Lü, Perturbative corrections to B→D form factors in QCD, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2017) 062.
  51. J. Gao, T. Huber, Y. Ji, C. Wang, Y.-M. Wang, and Y.-B. Wei, B→Dℓνℓ form factors beyond leading power and extraction of |Vcb| and R(D), J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2022) 024.
  52. B.-Y. Cui, Y.-K. Huang, Y.-M. Wang, and X.-C. Zhao, Shedding new light on R(D(s)(*)) and |Vcb| from semileptonic B¯(s)→D(s)(*)ℓν¯ℓ decays, Phys. Rev. D 108, L071504 (2023).
  53. Y.-M. Wang, Y.-L. Shen, and C.-D. Lu, Λb→p,Λ transition form factors from QCD light-cone sum rules, Phys. Rev. D 80, 074012 (2009).
  54. T. Feldmann and M. W. Y. Yip, Form factors for Λb→Λ transitions in the soft-collinear effective theory, Phys. Rev. D 85, 014035 (2012).
  55. Y.-M. Wang and Y.-L. Shen, Perturbative corrections to Λb→Λ form factors from QCD light-cone sum rules, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2016) 179.
  56. H.-Y. Cheng and C.-K. Chua, Covariant light front approach for B→K*γ,K1γ,K2*γ decays, Phys. Rev. D 69, 094007 (2004).
  57. H. Hatanaka and K.-C. Yang, K1(1270)−K1(1400) mixing angle and new-physics effects in B→K1ℓ+ℓ− decays, Phys. Rev. D 78, 074007 (2008).
  58. T. Becher, A. Broggio, and A. Ferroglia, Introduction to Soft-Collinear Effective Theory, Lecture Notes Physics, Vol. 896 (Springer, New York, 2015), pp. 1–206.
  59. B.-X. Shi, LoopS: A Mathematica package for Feynman amplitudes reduction, Zenodo (2025), 10.5281/zenodo.17383900.
  60. A. Sikandar, M. J. Aslam, I. Ahmed, and S. Shafaq, Radiative B to axial-vector meson decays at NLO in soft-collinear effective theory, J. Phys. G 48, 045005 (2021).
  61. G. Bell and T. Feldmann, Modelling light-cone distribution amplitudes from non-relativistic bound states, J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2008) 061.
  62. M. Beneke and J. Rohrwild, B meson distribution amplitude from B→γℓν, Eur. Phys. J. C 71, 1818 (2011).
  63. I. I. Balitsky and V. M. Braun, Evolution equations for QCD string operators, Nucl. Phys. B311, 541 (1989).
  64. V. M. Braun, Y. Ji, and A. N. Manashov, Higher-twist B-meson distribution amplitudes in HQET, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2017) 022.
  65. H. Kawamura, J. Kodaira, C.-F. Qiao, and K. Tanaka, B-meson light cone distribution amplitudes in the heavy quark limit, Phys. Lett. B 523, 111 (2001).
  66. M. Beneke, V. M. Braun, Y. Ji, and Y.-B. Wei, Radiative leptonic decay B→γℓνℓ with subleading power corrections, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2018) 154.
  67. M. Beneke, C. Bobeth, and Y.-M. Wang, Bd,s→γℓℓ¯ decay with an energetic photon, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2020) 148.
  68. Y.-L. Shen, Y.-M. Wang, and Y.-B. Wei, Precision calculations of the double radiative bottom-meson decays in soft-collinear effective theory, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2020) 169.
  69. Fermilab Lattice Collaboration, MILC Collaboration, and TUMQCD Collaboration, Up-, down-, strange-, charm-, and bottom-quark masses from four-flavor lattice QCD, Phys. Rev. D 98, 054517 (2018).
  70. HPQCD Collaboration, Determination of quark masses from nf=4 lattice QCD and the RI-SMOM intermediate scheme, Phys. Rev. D 98, 014513 (2018).
  71. Flavour Lattice Averaging Group (FLAG) Collaboration, FLAG review 2024, arXiv:2411.04268.
  72. C. Wang, Y.-M. Wang, and Y.-B. Wei, QCD factorization for the four-body leptonic B-meson decays, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2022) 141.
  73. Y.-M. Wang and Y.-L. Shen, Subleading-power corrections to the radiative leptonic B→γℓν decay in QCD, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2018) 184.
  74. Y.-M. Wang, Factorization and dispersion relations for radiative leptonic B decay, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2016) 159.
  75. T. Janowski, B. Pullin, and R. Zwicky, Charged and neutral B¯u,d,s→γ form factors from light cone sum rules at NLO, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2021) 008.
  76. Y. Li, J. Hua, and K.-C. Yang, B→K1ℓ+ℓ− decays in a family non-universal Z′ model, Eur. Phys. J. C 71, 1775 (2011).
  77. H. Dag, A. Ozpineci, and M. T. Zeyrek, The semileptonic B to K1(1270,1400) decays in QCD sum rules, J. Phys. G 38, 015002 (2011).
  78. C. Bourrely, I. Caprini, and L. Lellouch, Model-independent description of B→πlν decays and a determination of |Vub|, Phys. Rev. D 79, 013008 (2009).
  79. A. Khodjamirian and A. V. Rusov, Bs→Kℓνℓ and B(s)→π(K)ℓ+ℓ− decays at large recoil and CKM matrix elements, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2017) 112.
  80. B.-Y. Cui, Y.-K. Huang, Y.-L. Shen, C. Wang, and Y.-M. Wang, Precision calculations of Bd,s→π,K decay form factors in soft-collinear effective theory, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2023) 140.
  81. Y.-J. Sun, Z.-G. Wang, and T. Huang, B→A transitions in the light-cone QCD sum rules with the chiral current, Chin. Phys. C 36, 1046 (2012).
  82. S. Momeni and R. Khosravi, Analysis of the semileptonic B→K1ℓ+ℓ− transitions and non-leptonic B→K1γ decay in the AdS/QCD correspondence, Eur. Phys. J. C 78, 805 (2018).
  83. M. K. Mohapatra, D. Panda, and R. Mohanta, Imprints of new physics operators in the semileptonic B→a1(1260)ℓ−ν¯ℓ process in SMEFT approach, Phys. Lett. B 855, 138866 (2024).
  84. A. J. Buras, J. Girrbach-Noe, C. Niehoff, and D. M. Straub, B→K(*)νν¯ decays in the standard model and beyond, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2015) 184.
  85. R. R. Horgan, Z. Liu, S. Meinel, and M. Wingate, Lattice QCD calculation of form factors describing the rare decays B→K*ℓ+ℓ− and Bs→ϕℓ+ℓ−, Phys. Rev. D 89, 094501 (2014).
  86. T. Inami and C. S. Lim, Effects of superheavy quarks and leptons in low-energy weak processes KL→μμ¯,K+→π+νν¯ and K0→K¯0, Prog. Theor. Phys. 65, 297 (1981).
  87. G. Buchalla and A. J. Buras, QCD corrections to the s¯dZ vertex for arbitrary top quark mass, Nucl. Phys. B398, 285 (1993).
  88. G. Buchalla and A. J. Buras, The rare decays K→πνν¯, B→Xνν¯ and B→l+l−: An update, Nucl. Phys. B548, 309 (1999).
  89. M. Misiak and J. Urban, QCD corrections to FCNC decays mediated by Z penguins and W boxes, Phys. Lett. B 451, 161 (1999).
  90. J. Brod, M. Gorbahn, and E. Stamou, Two-loop electroweak corrections for the K→πνν¯ decays, Phys. Rev. D 83, 034030 (2011).

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation