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Determination of the strong coupling constant αs from inclusive semileptonic B-meson decays

Yuzhi Che1,2, Long Chen3, Jinfei Wu1,2, Xinchou Lou1,4,5, Xiang Chen6, Xin Guan7, Yan-Qing Ma8,9, and Manqi Ruan1,10,*

  • *Contact author: ruanmq@ihep.ac.cn

Phys. Rev. D 112, 074029 – Published 23 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/z6zv-zsyp

Abstract

We demonstrate the feasibility of determining the strong coupling constant, αs, from the inclusive semileptonic decay width of B mesons. We express the semileptonic B decay width as a function of αs(5  GeV), the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element |Vcb|, and b- and c-quark masses in the MS¯ scheme. We fit αs(5  GeV) to current world averages of the B± and B0 semileptonic decay widths. This yields αs(5  GeV)=0.245±0.009, corresponding to a five-flavor extrapolation of αs(mZ)=0.1266±0.0023. The primary uncertainty contributions arise from the uncertainty on the perturbative expansion and the value of |Vcb|. Future advancements, including higher-order perturbative calculations and precise measurements of |Vcb| and B decay widths from upcoming B and Z factories, could enable this method to determine αs(mZ) with a competitive precision of Δαs(mZ)∼0.0018. This precision is comparable to the current accuracy of αs(mZ) measurements from τ-lepton decays, which is regarded as the most precise experimental approach.

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