# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Within the Standard Model the inclusive rare $`B`$ decays $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ ($`l=e,`$ $`\mu `$, $`\tau `$) are generated by loop-induced flavour-changing neutral currents (FCNC). They allow us therefore to test our understanding of flavour dynamics at the quantum level. Although smaller in branching ratio than the radiative decay $`BX_s\gamma `$ by almost two orders of magnitude, the $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ modes could play a decisive role because they are sensitive to additional short-distance contributions. $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ can thus probe aspects of flavour physics not accessible with $`BX_s\gamma `$ and provides therefore a very valuable, complementary source of information. The best current limits for the (integrated, non-resonant) branching fraction of $`BX_s\mu ^+\mu ^{}`$ are

$$B(BX_s\mu ^+\mu ^{})<\{\begin{array}{c}5.810^5\text{[1]}\hfill \\ 3.210^4\text{[2]}\hfill \end{array}$$
(1)   
This is to be compare with a Standard-Model expectation of about $`610^6`$. The modes $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ ($`l=e,`$ $`\mu `$), to which we shall restrict ourselves in the following, should be well within reach of the upcoming experiments at the $`B`$-factories, the Tevatron and the LHC.

The theoretical description of $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ is based on a low-energy effective Hamiltonian $`_{eff}`$, derived using the operator-product expansion and renormalization-group improved QCD perturbation theory. Schematically, the amplitude for the decay of $`B`$ into final state $`X_sl^+l^{}`$ may be written as

$$X_sl^+l^{}|_{eff}|B=\frac{G_F}{\sqrt{2}}V_{ts}^{}V_{tb}\underset{i}{}C_i(M_W/\mu ,m_t,\alpha _s)X_sl^+l^{}|Q_i|B$$
(2)   
The $`C_i`$ are Wilson coefficient functions containing the short-distance physics from scales $`M_W`$ to $`\mu m_b`$. They are perturbatively calculable. $`Q_i`$ are the corresponding local four-fermion operators. (See  for a general review on this subject.) For the inclusive decay of a $`B`$ meson the squared matrix elements of operators entering the decay rate can be further treated using the heavy quark expansion (HQE) . To leading order in this expansion in $`1/m_b`$ the inclusive rate for the decay $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ is given by the partonic result for $`bsl^+l^{}`$, plus non-perturbative power corrections of second and higher order in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}/m_b`$. Unlike exclusive modes, the inclusive $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ is thus largely dominated by perturbatively calculable contributions. Non-perturbative mechanisms are, however, still present. The ultimate precision of the Standard-Model prediction, and the potential to test for unexpected deviations, then depends on how well the generally difficult non-perturbative sector can be brought under control.

## 2 Overview

Before discussing some of the most relevant issues in slightly more detail, we begin with a short overview of the non-perturbative effects in $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$. For illustration we show in Fig. 1 the partonic dilepton invariant-mass spectrum

$$R(s)=\frac{\frac{d}{ds}\mathrm{\Gamma }(BX_sl^+l^{})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(BX_ce\nu )}$$
(3)   
as a function of $`s=q^2/m_b^2`$, $`q^2=(p_{l^+}+p_l^{})^2`$. The effect of various non-perturbative corrections, to be discussed below, is also illustrated. Clearly visible are the narrow resonances $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }(3097)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(3686)`$ at $`s0.4`$ and $`0.6`$, respectivley.

Two different sources of non-perturbative contributions may be distinguished. First, power corrections in $`1/m_b`$ to the leading partonic decay within the heavy quark expansion. Second, non-perturbative effects related to intermediate $`c\overline{c}`$ pairs ($`BX_s(c\overline{c})X_sl^+l^{}`$).

The leading $`1/m_b`$ corrections of $`𝒪(\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}^2/m_b^2)`$ have been calculated and are found to be small ($`\stackrel{<}{_{}}`$ several per cent), except for $`q^2\stackrel{>}{_{}}0.8m_b^2`$ . Still closer to the endpoint $`q^2m_b^2`$ the HQE breaks down and the inclusive decay $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ is eventually dominated by the exclusive channel $`BKl^+l^{}`$. (The issue of the $`b`$-quark mass in the partonic spectrum is briefly discussed in . In the present context the pole mass definition is used for $`m_b`$.)

Large backgrounds to the short-distance process arise from the cascades $`BX_s\mathrm{\Psi }^{()}`$, $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{()}l^+l^{}`$ when the dilepton mass $`q^2`$ is in the vicinity of the narrow ($`J^{PC}=1^{}`$) resonances $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{}`$. They would dominate the signal by two orders of magnitude and have to be excluded by suitable cuts on $`q^2`$. This leaves essentially two interesting $`q^2`$ regions to search for $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$: region I (below the resonances), where residual non-perturbative effects from $`c\overline{c}`$ resonances can be calculated within a $`1/m_c`$ expansion; and region II (above the $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{}`$), where the impact of higher $`J^{PC}=1^{}`$ $`c\overline{c}`$-resonances has to be considered.

## 3 $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}^2/m_b^2`$ Corrections

The starting point for a systematic expansion in $`1/m_b`$ of an inclusive $`B`$ meson decay rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is provided by the optical theorem ,

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=\frac{1}{2M_B}B|\mathrm{Im}id^4xT_{eff}(x)_{eff}(0)|B$$
(4)   
which relates the decay width to the absorbtive part of the forward scattering amplitude. In the present context $`_{eff}`$ is the effective hamiltonian for $`bsl^+l^{}`$ decay. The hadronic part of $`_{eff}`$ involves currents of flavour structure $`(\overline{b}s)`$ (and $`(\overline{s}b)`$). Schematically, the T-product in (4) then gives rise to expressions of the form $`(\overline{b}s)(x)(\overline{s}b)(0)`$, where the $`s`$-quark fields are contracted according to Wick’s theorem and the $`s`$-quark propagator is subject to the HQE in $`1/m_b`$. Through order $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}^2/m_b^2`$ the rate becomes

$$\frac{d}{ds}\mathrm{\Gamma }(BX_sl^+l^{})=\frac{d}{ds}\mathrm{\Gamma }(bsl^+l^{})\frac{B|\overline{b}b|B}{2M_B}+C_G\frac{1}{m_b^2}\frac{B|\overline{b}g\sigma Gb|B}{2M_B}$$
(5)   
with a calculable coefficient $`C_G`$ . The matrix elements in (5) may be further expanded using heavy quark effective theory (HQET) 

$`{\displaystyle \frac{B|\overline{b}b|B}{2M_B}}`$ $`=`$ $`1+{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _1}{2m_b^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{\lambda _2}{m_b^2}}`$ (6)   
$`{\displaystyle \frac{B|\overline{b}g\sigma Gb|B}{2M_B}}`$ $`=`$ $`6\lambda _2={\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}(M_B^{}^2M_B^2)`$ (7)   
where $`\lambda _1=B|\overline{h}(iD)^2h|B/(2M_B)`$ and $`6\lambda _2=B|\overline{h}g\sigma Gh|B/(2M_B)`$, with $`h`$ the $`b`$-quark field in HQET.

It is useful to normalize the rate (5) by the rate of the inclusive, charged-current decay $`BX_ce\nu `$, defining $`R(s)`$ in (3). In $`R(s)`$ the CKM parameters enter only in the ratio $`|V_{ts}V_{tb}/V_{cb}|^2=0.95\pm 0.03`$, which is much better known than the individual elements. In addition the dependence on the poorly known parameter $`\lambda _1`$ drops out in the $`1/m_b^2`$ corrections to $`R`$. These are then determined by $`\lambda _2`$ alone, which is fixed by (7). The relative correction $`\delta _{1/m_b^2}R(s)/R(s)`$ amounts to several per cent at most for $`s\stackrel{<}{_{}}0.75`$, but diverges towards the endpoint $`s1`$. This breakdown of the HQE was first noticed in  and confirmed in . The origin of this behaviour has been discussed in detail in . The reason for the breakdown of the HQE can be understood intuitively as follows. At $`s1`$ the lepton pair carries almost the entire mass of the initial $`B`$ meson, leaving a very soft, low-multiplicity hadronic system in the final state. No hard scale exists in this regime to define an expansion parameter for the strange-quark propagator. It is interesting to note  that the nature of the HQE breakdown in $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ at $`s1`$ is conceptually different from the situation of the lepton (photon) energy spectrum in $`BX_ce\nu `$ ($`BX_s\gamma `$) -. In the latter cases the straigtforward HQE breaks down near the endpoint of the lepton (photon) energy spectrum, but the expansion can be amended by a resummation of the leading singular contributions to all orders in $`1/m_b`$. The resummation results in a description of the endpoint region in terms of a shape function -. No such resummation is possible near the $`s1`$ endpoint of $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ and the shape function description does not apply . On the other hand, the kinematic situation at $`s1`$ is a priori very well suited for a treatment employing heavy hadron chiral perturbation theory . This framework is appropriate to analyze the strong-interaction effects in the transition of a heavy $`B`$ meson to a small number of soft pseudo-goldstone bosons. This is precisely the case of $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ at $`s1`$, where the inclusive decay degenerates into $`BKl^+l^{}`$, $`BK\pi l^+l^{}`$, $`\mathrm{}`$, with low-energy kaons and pions. This approach to the endpoint region has been discussed in . $`BKl^+l^{}`$ largely domiantes the endpoint region, whereas $`BK\pi l^+l^{}`$ is entirely negligible. A reasonable interpolation to the range of validity of the HQE at lower $`s`$ can be obtained .

## 4 $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}^2/m_c^2`$ Corrections

For small $`q^2\stackrel{<}{_{}}3m_c^2`$ (that is below the $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ resonance), the leading non-perturbative effect from intermediate $`c\overline{c}`$ can be treated in an expansion in $`1/m_c`$. This approach has first been proposed to estimate non-perturbative corrections in $`BX_s\gamma `$ . The generalization to $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ was performed in  (see also ). The effect arises from the interaction of a soft gluon coupled to the $`c\overline{c}`$ loop with the spectator cloud inside the $`B`$ meson. This mechanism is not included in the perturbative evaluation of the $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ decay rate. The leading correction has the form $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }(BX_sl^+l^{})=f(s)\lambda _2/m_c^2`$, where $`f(s)`$ is a function of the dilepton mass, $`m_c/m_b`$ and the short-distance Wilson coefficients. Since the hadronic matrix element can be expressed entirely in terms of the well known $`\lambda _2`$ (7), the $`1/m_c^2`$ effect is completely calculable. A further virtue of this approach is its model independence. In particular it avoids the double counting of $`c\overline{c}`$ contributions (already partly contained in the perturbative calculation) that is inherent in resonance-exchange models that have been employed previously to estimate these long-distance effects.

Numerically the $`1/m_c^2`$ correction is below a few per cent for $`q^2\stackrel{<}{_{}}3m_c^2`$. The $`1/m_c`$ expansion is not valid in the vicinity of $`q^2=M_\mathrm{\Psi }^2,M_\mathrm{\Psi }^{}^2`$, where strong resonance effects are important. For higher values of $`q^2`$ the $`1/m_c^2`$ correction becomes very small. However, in this regime the non-perturbative contributions are dominated by the effect of higher $`c\overline{c}`$ resonances, which will be briefly discussed in the following section.

To conclude we remark that the $`1/m_c^2`$ correction to $`BX_s\gamma `$  may be obtained from the corresponding calculation for $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ by considering the limit $`q^20`$. One finds $`\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }(BX_s\gamma )/\mathrm{\Gamma }(BX_s\gamma )=`$ $`0.42\lambda _2/m_c^2+3\%`$ .

## 5 Higher $`c\overline{c}`$-Resonances

In the region of $`q^2`$ above the $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{}(3686)`$ there are further resonances ($`\mathrm{\Psi }(3770)`$, $`\mathrm{\Psi }(4040)`$, $`\mathrm{\Psi }(4160)`$, $`\mathrm{\Psi }(4415)`$), which may affect the dilepton invariant mass spectrum. Since these higher resonances are rather broad and much less prominent than $`\mathrm{\Psi }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{}`$, the HQE-based quark-level calculations should give a reasonable first approximation in the corresponding range of $`q^2`$. To calculate the impact of higher resonances on the spectrum above $`q^2=M_\mathrm{\Psi }^{}^2`$ is a difficult problem, which has not yet been solved in a fully satisfactory way. Some insight can be gained by making further simplifying, model-dependent assumptions. A procedure that is often employed in the literature  to estimate the resonance contributions consists in adding Breit-Wigner type resonance terms to the quark-level calculation. This approach is, however, unsatisfactory due to the double-counting problem mentioned above. At present, the most consistent method is the one proposed in . Here the charm-loop contribution to $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ is estimated by means of experimental data on $`\sigma (e^+e^{}c\overline{c}\mathrm{hadrons})`$ using a dispersion relation. In this way double counting is avoided. The estimate has the further advantage of also including open-charm contributions. On the other hand, it still rests on the ad-hoc assumption that the $`BX_sc\overline{c}`$ transition can be factorized into a product of $`(\overline{s}b)`$ and $`(\overline{c}c)`$ color-singlet currents. The long-distance corrections to the quark-level calculation estimated with this method are only several per cent . Somewhat larger effects are obtained when a phenomenological factor $`\kappa =2.3`$ is introduced to correct for the factorization approximation. This is motivated by the fact that the factorization assumption gives a too small $`BX_s\mathrm{\Psi }`$ branching fraction. However, the validity of such a procedure for estimating the impact of higher resonances in $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ is not a priori clear and requires further study.

## 6 Summary

After large backgrounds from $`BX_s\mathrm{\Psi }(\mathrm{\Psi }^{})`$ $`X_sl^+l^{}`$ are eliminated by experimental cuts in $`q^2`$, the rare decay $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ is dominated by perturbatively calculable contributions. $`𝒪(\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}^2/m_b^2)`$ non-perturbative corrections are well under control, except for the endpoint region $`q^2m_b^2`$, where the HQE breaks down. Close to the endpoint the inclusive decay is determined by $`BKl^+l^{}`$ and model independent constraints from heavy-hadron chiral perturbation theory can be derived.

Non-perturbative effects further arise from intermediate $`c\overline{c}`$ states in $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$. At low $`q^2`$ they can be treated with a $`1/m_c`$ expansion. The leading correction of $`𝒪(\mathrm{\Lambda }_{QCD}^2/m_c^2)`$ has been calculated and is found to be very well under control ($`\stackrel{<}{_{}}`$ few per cent). The corresponding effect is even smaller at high $`q^2`$. There, however, higher resonances (above $`\mathrm{\Psi }^{}`$) can have some impact on the dilepton-mass spectrum. These resonances are rather broad and their effect on the spectrum is possibly not too pronounced. This question cannot yet been answered in a fully satisfactory way and deserves further study. Otherwise, in particular in the low-$`q^2`$ region, the Standard-Model prediction is quite accurate ($`\stackrel{<}{_{}}10\%`$ uncertainty). The inclusive rare decay $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$ is therefore very well suited for detailed tests of the underlying flavour physics.

## Acknowledgements

I am grateful to my co-authors in  for a most enjoyable collaboration on the topics presented in this talk. Particular thanks are due to Gino Isidori for the extensive and fruitful exchange of ideas on non-perturbative effects in $`BX_sl^+l^{}`$.