{
  "id": "1509.05049",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2015-09-16T20:15:50.000Z",
  "updated": "2015-09-16T20:15:50.000Z",
  "title": "Weak decays of unstable $b$-mesons",
  "authors": [
    "Benjamín Grinstein",
    "Jorge Martin Camalich"
  ],
  "comment": "21 pages",
  "categories": [
    "hep-ph",
    "hep-ex",
    "hep-lat"
  ],
  "abstract": "We investigate the decays of the excited $(b\\bar q)$ mesons as probes of the short-distance structure of the weak $\\Delta B=1$ transitions. These states are unstable under the electromagnetic or strong interactions although their widths are typically suppressed by phase space. As compared to the pseudoscalar $B$ meson, the purely leptonic decays of the vector $B^*$ are not chirally suppressed and are sensitive to different combinations of the underlying weak effective operators. An interesting example is $B^*_s\\to \\ell^+\\ell^-$, which has a rate that can be accurately predicted in the standard model. The branching fraction is $\\mathcal{B}\\sim10^{-11}$, irrespective of the lepton flavor and where the main uncertainty stems from the unmeasured and theoretically not-well known $B_s^*$ width. We discuss the prospects for producing this decay mode at the LHC and explore the possibility of measuring the $B_s^*\\to\\ell\\ell$ amplitude, instead, through scattering experiments at the $B_s^*$ resonance peak. Finally we also discuss the charged-current $B_{u,c}^*\\to\\ell\\nu$ decay which can provide complementary information on the $b\\to u\\ell\\nu$ and $b\\to c\\ell\\nu$ transitions.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2015-09-16T20:15:50.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "weak decays",
      "main uncertainty stems",
      "decay mode",
      "transitions",
      "standard model"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "doi": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.141801"
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 21,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable",
      "inspire": 1393756
    }
  }
}