- Open Access
Cabibbo-suppressed charged-current semileptonic decays of baryons
Phys. Rev. D 112, 113012 – Published 31 December, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/pynq-13c3
Abstract
We present the first perturbative QCD calculations of the transition form factors at leading order in , which govern the Cabibbo-suppressed semileptonic decays with , , . Using these form factors, we evaluate differential and integrated branching fractions and angular observables within the helicity formalism. The branching ratios are predicted to be of order for final states and for final states, making them accessible to ongoing experiments such as LHCb. Ratios of decay rates between and channels are also provided, offering new probes of lepton-flavor universality. Lepton-mass effects are found to significantly impact the integrated angular observables. Furthermore, a combined analysis of and transitions in decays yields subpercent precision for the ratios , enabling an independent determination of once the relevant decay-rate measurements become available.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Article Text
References (94)
- S. Navas et al. (Particle Data Group), Review of particle physics, Phys. Rev. D 110, 030001 (2024).
- S. Banerjee et al. (Heavy Flavor Averaging Group (HFLAV), Averages of -hadron, -hadron, and -lepton properties as of 2023, arXiv:2411.18639.
- X. W. Kang, B. Kubis, C. Hanhart, and U. G. Meißner, decays and the extraction of , Phys. Rev. D 89, 053015 (2014).
- Y. Sato et al. (Belle Collaboration), Measurement of the branching ratio of relative to decays with a semileptonic tagging method, Phys. Rev. D 94, 072007 (2016).
- F. U. Bernlochner, Z. Ligeti, M. Papucci, and D. J. Robinson, Tensions and correlations in determinations, Phys. Rev. D 96, 091503 (2017).
- G. Ricciardi and M. Rotondo, Determination of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element , J. Phys. G 47, 113001 (2020).
- G. Ricciardi, Status of and CKM matrix elements, AIP Conf. Proc. 1701, 050014 (2016).
- P. Gambino, M. Jung, and S. Schacht, The puzzle: An update, Phys. Lett. B 795, 386 (2019).
- G. Martinelli, S. Simula, and L. Vittorio, and ) using lattice QCD and unitarity, Phys. Rev. D 105, 034503 (2022).
- G. Martinelli, S. Simula, and L. Vittorio, Exclusive determinations of and through unitarity, Eur. Phys. J. C 82, 1083 (2022).
- G. Martinelli, S. Simula, and L. Vittorio, Semileptonic decays from light to leptons: The extraction of the form factor from data, Eur. Phys. J. C 85, 242 (2025).
- G. Martinelli, S. Simula, and L. Vittorio, Updates on the determination of and , Eur. Phys. J. C 84, 400 (2024).
- A. J. Buras, K. Gemmler, and G. Isidori, Quark flavour mixing with right-handed currents: An effective theory approach, Nucl. Phys. B843, 107 (2011).
- A. Crivellin, Effects of right-handed charged currents on the determinations of and , Phys. Rev. D 81, 031301 (2010).
- A. Crivellin and S. Pokorski, Can the differences in the determinations of and be explained by new physics?, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 011802 (2015).
- F. U. Bernlochner, Z. Ligeti, and S. Turczyk, New ways to search for right-handed current in decay, Phys. Rev. D 90, 094003 (2014).
- D. Bigi, P. Gambino, and S. Schacht, A fresh look at the determination of from , Phys. Lett. B 769, 441 (2017).
- W. Altmannshofer and N. Lewis, Loop-induced determinations of and , Phys. Rev. D 105, 033004 (2022).
- P. Colangelo and F. De Fazio, Tension in the inclusive versus exclusive determinations of : A possible role of new physics, Phys. Rev. D 95, 011701 (2017).
- S. Iguro and R. Watanabe, Bayesian fit analysis to full distribution data of determination and new physics constraints, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2020) 006.
- A. J. Buras and J. Girrbach, Towards the identification of new physics through quark flavour violating processes, Rep. Prog. Phys. 77, 086201 (2014).
- I. I. Bigi, Is there a real difference between vs. from semi-leptonic decays?, arXiv:1507.01842.
- A. Bansal, N. Mahajan, and D. Mishra, and quest for new physics, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2022) 130.
- G. Ricciardi, Theory: Semileptonic B decays and update, Proc. Sci., BEAUTY2020 (2021) 031 [arXiv:2103.06099].
- P. Gambino, A. S. Kronfeld, M. Rotondo, C. Schwanda, F. Bernlochner, A. Bharucha, C. Bozzi, M. Calvi, L. Cao, G. Ciezarek et al., Challenges in semileptonic decays, Eur. Phys. J. C 80, 966 (2020).
- A. Biswas, S. Nandi, and I. Ray, Extractions of from a combined study of the exclusive decays, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2023) 024.
- R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration), First observation of the decay and Measurement of , Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 081804 (2021).
- R. Aaij et al. (LHCb Collaboration), Determination of the quark coupling strength using baryonic decays, Nat. Phys. 11, 743 (2015).
- W. Detmold, C. Lehner, and S. Meinel, and form factors from lattice QCD with relativistic heavy quarks, Phys. Rev. D 92, 034503 (2015).
- R. N. Faustov and V. O. Galkin, Semileptonic decays of baryons in the relativistic quark model, Phys. Rev. D 94, 073008 (2016).
- R. Dutta, decays within standard model and beyond, Phys. Rev. D 93, 054003 (2016).
- H. Y. Cheng, Nonleptonic weak decays of bottom baryons, Phys. Rev. D 56, 2799 (1997); 99, 079901(E) (2019).
- D. Ebert, R. N. Faustov, and V. O. Galkin, Semileptonic decays of heavy baryons in the relativistic quark model, Phys. Rev. D 73, 094002 (2006).
- R. L. Singleton, Semileptonic baryon decays with a heavy quark, Phys. Rev. D 43, 2939 (1991).
- H. Y. Cheng and B. Tseng, 1/M corrections to baryonic form-factors in the quark model, Phys. Rev. D 53, 1457 (1996); 55, 1697(E) (1997).
- M. A. Ivanov, V. E. Lyubovitskij, J. G. Korner, and P. Kroll, Heavy baryon transitions in a relativistic three quark model, Phys. Rev. D 56, 348 (1997).
- M. A. Ivanov, J. G. Korner, V. E. Lyubovitskij, and A. G. Rusetsky, Charm and bottom baryon decays in the Bethe-Salpeter approach: Heavy to heavy semileptonic transitions, Phys. Rev. D 59, 074016 (1999).
- F. Cardarelli and S. Simula, Analysis of the decay within a light front constituent quark model, Phys. Rev. D 60, 074018 (1999).
- C. Albertus, E. Hernandez, and J. Nieves, Nonrelativistic constituent quark model and HQET combined study of semileptonic decays of and baryons, Phys. Rev. D 71, 014012 (2005).
- J. G. Korner, M. Kramer, and D. Pirjol, Heavy baryons, Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 33, 787 (1994).
- J. Zhang, X. An, R. Sun, and J. Su, Probing new physics in semileptonic decays, Eur. Phys. J. C 79, 863 (2019).
- H. W. Ke, G. Y. Fang, and Y. L. Shi, Study on the mixing of and by the transition , Phys. Rev. D 109, 073006 (2024).
- R. Dutta, Phenomenology of decays, Phys. Rev. D 97, 073004 (2018).
- Z. Neishabouri and K. Azizi, Investigation of the semileptonic decays , Phys. Rev. D 112, 054009 (2025).
- K. Azizi, Y. Sarac, and H. Sundu, Light cone QCD sum rules study of the semileptonic heavy and transitions to and baryons, Eur. Phys. J. A 48, 2 (2012).
- R. N. Faustov and V. O. Galkin, Relativistic description of the baryon semileptonic decays, Phys. Rev. D 98, 093006 (2018).
- Z. Rui, Z. T. Zou, Y. Li, and Y. Li, Semileptonic baryon decays in perturbative QCD, Phys. Rev. D 111, 113006 (2025).
- C. D. Lu, Y. M. Wang, H. Zou, A. Ali, and G. Kramer, Anatomy of the pQCD approach to the baryonic decays , Phys. Rev. D 80, 034011 (2009).
- C. Q. Zhang, J. M. Li, M. K. Jia, and Z. Rui, Nonleptonic two-body decays of in the perturbative QCD approach, Phys. Rev. D 105, 073005 (2022).
- Z. Rui, C. Q. Zhang, J. M. Li, and M. K. Jia, Investigating the color-suppressed decays in the perturbative QCD approach, Phys. Rev. D 106, 053005 (2022).
- Z. Rui, J. M. Li, and C. Q. Zhang, Estimates of exchange topological contributions and -violating observables in decay, Phys. Rev. D 107, 053009 (2023).
- Z. Rui, J. M. Li, and C. Q. Zhang, Mixing effects of in decays, Phys. Rev. D 107, 093008 (2023).
- Z. Rui, J. M. Li, and C. Q. Zhang, Estimates on the isospin-violating decays and the mixing, Phys. Rev. D 108, 033004 (2023).
- Z. Rui and Z. T. Zou, Charmonium decays of beauty baryons in the perturbative QCD approach, Phys. Rev. D 109, 033013 (2024).
- Z. Rui, Z. T. Zou, and Y. Li, Higher twist corrections to doubly-charmed baryonic B decays, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2024) 159.
- J. J. Han, Y. Li, H. n. Li, Y. L. Shen, Z. J. Xiao, and F. S. Yu, transition form factors in perturbative QCD, Eur. Phys. J. C 82, 686 (2022).
- J. J. Han, J. X. Yu, Y. Li, H. n. Li, J. P. Wang, Z. J. Xiao, and F. S. Yu, Establishing violation in b-baryon decays, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 221801 (2025).
- J. J. Han, J. X. Yu, Y. Li, H. n. Li, J. P. Wang, Z. J. Xiao, and F. S. Yu, violation of two-body hadronic decays in the PQCD approach, Phys. Rev. D 112, 053007 (2025).
- Y. Li, J. Chen, Y. X. Wang, and Z. T. Zou, Investigation of decays in perturbative QCD approach, arXiv:2509.02257.
- L. Yang, J. J. Han, Q. Chang, and F. S. Yu, The transition form factors in perturbative QCD approach, arXiv:2508.18069.
- M. Beneke, M. Garny, S. Jaskiewicz, J. Strohm, R. Szafron, L. Vernazza, and J. Wang, Next-to-leading power endpoint factorization and resummation for off-diagonal “gluon” thrust, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2022) 144.
- T. Feldmann, N. Gubernari, T. Huber, and N. Seitz, Contribution of the electromagnetic dipole operator to the decay amplitude, Phys. Rev. D 107, 013007 (2023).
- Z. L. Liu and M. Neubert, Factorization at subleading power and endpoint-divergent convolutions in decay, J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2020) 033.
- Z. L. Liu, B. Mecaj, M. Neubert, and X. Wang, Factorization at subleading power and endpoint divergences in decay. Part II. Renormalization and scale evolution, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2021) 077.
- C. D. Lü, Y. L. Shen, C. Wang, and Y. M. Wang, Shedding new light on weak annihilation B-meson decays, Nucl. Phys. B990, 116175 (2023).
- G. Bell, P. Böer, T. Feldmann, D. Horstmann, and V. Shtabovenko, form factors at large recoil: Interplay of soft-quark and soft-gluon dynamics, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2025) 098.
- J. X. Yu, S. Cheng, J. J. Han, H. n. Li, and F. S. Yu, Tomography of high-twist proton structure through elastic scattering, arXiv:2511.12589.
- Y. Li and C. D. Lü, Recent anomalies in B physics, Sci. Bull. 63, 267 (2018).
- A. Pich, Flavour anomalies, Proc. Sci., LHCP2019 (2019) 078 [arXiv:1911.06211].
- S. Iguro, T. Kitahara, and R. Watanabe, Global fit to anomalies as of Spring 2024, Phys. Rev. D 110, 075005 (2024).
- P. Ball, V. M. Braun, and E. Gardi, Distribution amplitudes of the baryon in QCD, Phys. Lett. B 665, 197 (2008).
- A. Ali, C. Hambrock, and A. Y. Parkhomenko, Light-cone wave functions of heavy baryons, Theor. Math. Phys. 170, 2 (2012).
- A. Ali, C. Hambrock, A. Y. Parkhomenko, and W. Wang, Light-Cone distribution amplitudes of the ground state bottom baryons in HQET, Eur. Phys. J. C 73, 2302 (2013).
- V. M. Braun, S. E. Derkachov, and A. N. Manashov, Integrability of the evolution equations for heavy-light baryon distribution amplitudes, Phys. Lett. B 738, 334 (2014).
- Y. M. Wang and Y. L. Shen, Perturbative corrections to form factors from QCD light-cone sum rules, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2016) 179.
- G. Bell, T. Feldmann, Y. M. Wang, and M. W. Y. Yip, Light-cone distribution amplitudes for heavy-quark hadrons, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2013) 191.
- X. Y. Han, J. Hua, X. Ji, C. D. Lü, W. Wang, J. Xu, Q. A. Zhang, and S. Zhao, A new method to access heavy meson lightcone distribution amplitudes from first-principle, Phys. Rev. D 111, L111503 (2025).
- X. Y. Han, J. Hua, X. Ji, C. D. Lü, A. Schäfer, Y. Su, W. Wang, J. Xu, Y. Yang, J. H. Zhang et al., Calculation of heavy meson light-cone distribution amplitudes from lattice QCD, Phys. Rev. D 111, 034503 (2025).
- W. Wang, J. Xu, Q. A. Zhang, and S. Zhao, Mass renormalization group of heavy meson light-cone distribution amplitude in QCD, arXiv:2411.07101.
- Y. L. Liu and M. Q. Huang, Distribution amplitudes of Sigma and Lambda and their electromagnetic form factors, Nucl. Phys. A821, 80 (2009).
- C. Bourrely, I. Caprini, and L. Lellouch, Model-independent description of decays and a determination of , Phys. Rev. D 79, 013008 (2009); 82, 099902(E) (2010).
- T. Blake, S. Meinel, M. Rahimi, and D. van Dyk, Dispersive bounds for local form factors in transitions, Phys. Rev. D 108, 094509 (2023).
- Z. X. Zhao, Weak decays of heavy baryons in the light-front approach, Chin. Phys. C 42, 093101 (2018).
- T. Gutsche, M. A. Ivanov, J. G. Körner, V. E. Lyubovitskij, and P. Santorelli, Heavy-to-light semileptonic decays of and baryons in the covariant confined quark model, Phys. Rev. D 90, 114033 (2014); 94, 059902(E) (2016).
- F. U. Bernlochner, M. F. Sevilla, D. J. Robinson, and G. Wormser, Semitauonic b-hadron decays: A lepton flavor universality laboratory, Rev. Mod. Phys. 94, 015003 (2022).
- F. U. Bernlochner, decay in the context of type II 2HDM, Phys. Rev. D 92, 115019 (2015).
- W. F. Duan, S. Iguro, X. Q. Li, R. Watanabe, and Y. D. Yang, On sum rules for semi-leptonic and decays, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2025) 166.
- B. Y. Cui, Y. K. Huang, Y. M. Wang, and X. C. Zhao, Shedding new light on and from semileptonic decays, Phys. Rev. D 108, L071504 (2023).
- F. U. Bernlochner, Z. Ligeti, D. J. Robinson, and W. L. Sutcliffe, New predictions for semileptonic decays and tests of heavy quark symmetry, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 202001 (2018).
- F. U. Bernlochner, Z. Ligeti, D. J. Robinson, and W. L. Sutcliffe, Precise predictions for semileptonic decays, Phys. Rev. D 99, 055008 (2019).
- M. Fedele, M. Blanke, A. Crivellin, S. Iguro, T. Kitahara, U. Nierste, and R. Watanabe, Impact of measurement on new physics in transitions, Phys. Rev. D 107, 055005 (2023).
- Z. G. Wang, Analysis of the antitriplet heavy baryon states with QCD sum rules, Eur. Phys. J. C 68, 479 (2010).
- V. Braun, R. J. Fries, N. Mahnke, and E. Stein, Higher twist distribution amplitudes of the nucleon in QCD, Nucl. Phys. B589, 381 (2000); Nucl. Phys.B607, 433(E) (2001).
- V. M. Braun, S. E. Derkachov, G. P. Korchemsky, and A. N. Manashov, Baryon distribution amplitudes in QCD, Nucl. Phys. B553, 355 (1999).