# QCD sum rules on the light cone and 𝐵→𝜋 form factors

## 1 Motivation: CP violation and the CKM matrix

Within the Standard model CP violation is parameterized by a complex phase in the CKM-matrix $`V_{CKM}`$. The various entries of $`V_{CKM}`$ are known with different accuracy: The best known matrix elements are $`V_{ud}`$ and $`V_{us}`$, the first one is obtained from the comparison of super-allowed nuclear $`\beta `$-decay with $`\mu `$-decay, the latter one from the decay $`K\pi \overline{l}\nu `$. Among the matrix elements which are fairly well known are $`V_{cd}`$ (obtained from single charm production in deep-inelastic $`\nu N`$-scattering and from semileptonic decays of charmed mesons), $`V_{cs}`$ (which can be obtained from the decay $`D\overline{K}\overline{l}\nu `$) and $`V_{cb}`$. The latter one can be measured either inclusively, using $`BD`$ transitions or exclusively in the semileptonic $`BD`$ transition. Among the matrix elements which are least well known are $`V_{ub}`$, $`V_{td}`$, $`V_{ts}`$ and $`V_{tb}`$. The matrix elements involving the top quark may be obtained from $`B_d`$-$`\overline{B}_d`$ mixing ($`V_{td}`$), $`B_s`$-$`\overline{B}_s`$ mixing ($`V_{ts}`$) and single top production ($`V_{tb}`$). The remaining one, $`V_{ub}`$, can be obtained either from the lepton spectrum in inclusive $`BX\overline{l}\nu `$ decays or from exclusive semileptonic $`B`$-decays.

In order to extract the entries of the $`V_{CKM}`$ matrix from the experimental data one needs certain input information from theory. In many cases the theoretical calculations have to rely on non-perturbative methods for QCD. Among the techniques which have been used are: Chiral perturbation theory (for the extraction of $`V_{us}`$), heavy quark effective theory (for $`V_{cb}`$), lattice calculations (for $`V_{ub}`$, $`V_{cs}`$ and $`V_{td}`$), QCD sum rules (for $`V_{ub}`$ and $`V_{cs}`$ ) as well as quark models (for $`V_{ub}`$ and $`V_{cs}`$). Among these the first four enjoy the property that they are based on first principles, whereas quark models are, as the name already indicates, phenomenological models, whose systematic errors are difficult to quantify.

In this talk we will focus on the extraction of $`|V_{ub}|`$ from the exclusive semileptonic decay $`B\pi \overline{l}\nu `$, using QCD sum rules techniques. In the next section we explain the basic principles underlying the sum rule technique. QCD sum rules are based on the operator product expansion (OPE). We mention briefly the differences between a short-distance expansion and an expansion on the light-cone. In the last section we will focus on the sum rule for the decay $`B\pi \overline{l}\nu `$ and give numerical results.

## 2 The QCD sum rule technique

The derivation of a QCD sum rule  involves the following six steps:

Step 1: Take a correlation function. For example, in order to calculate the B-meson decay constant $`f_B`$ using QCD sum rules, one would start from the correlation function

$`\mathrm{\Pi }(q^2)`$ $`=`$ $`i{\displaystyle d^4xe^{iqx}0|T(\overline{u}(x)i\gamma _5b(x),\overline{b}(0)i\gamma _5u(0))|0}.`$ (1)   
Step 2: Write a dispersion relation for $`\mathrm{\Pi }(q^2)`$:

$`\mathrm{\Pi }(q^2)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\pi }}{\displaystyle 𝑑s\frac{\text{Im}\mathrm{\Pi }(s)}{sq^2}}+\text{subtractions}`$ (2)   
Step 3: Express the absorbative part of $`\mathrm{\Pi }(q^2)`$ in terms of hadronic quantities. In our example above this would involve $`f_B`$.

Step 4: Calculate the correlation function in the asymptotic region using QCD and operator product expansion.

Step 5: Use quark-hadron duality to relate the hadronic representation from step 3 to the absorbative part of the QCD calculation from step 4.

Step 6: The sum rule can be improved by applying a Borel transformation to both sides.

These steps provide a “cooking recipe” for QCD sum rules. A few comments: The QCD calculation in step 4 is based on the operator product expansion. A nonlocal composite operator like $`j(x)j(0)`$ (in the example above we have $`j(x)=\overline{u}(x)i\gamma _5b(x)`$) is expanded into a series of well-defined local operators $`𝒪_n`$:

$`j(x)j(0)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{n}{}}C_n𝒪_n`$ (3)   
This separates soft and hard physics: The Wilson coefficients $`C_n`$ contain the information on short distance physics and can be calculated using perturbation theory. The matrix elements of the local operators $`𝒪_n`$ parameterize the long distance physics. They are universal non-perturbative quantities. There are two version of the operator product expansion: The short distance expansion and the expansion on the light-cone. In the former one the various local operators are classified by their dimensions, where as in the latter one the classification goes by twist (dimension minus spin).

The sum rule can be improved by applying the Borel operator to both the hadronic representation and the QCD calculation. The Borel operator is given by

$`\widehat{B}`$ $`=`$ $`\underset{Q^2\mathrm{},n\mathrm{},Q^2/n=M^2}{lim}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(n1)!}}\left(Q^2\right)^n\left({\displaystyle \frac{d}{dQ^2}}\right)^n.`$ (4)   
The Borel transformation gives rise to an exponential supression of the higher resonances and the continuum in the hadronic representation. The power corrections in the QCD calculations are supressed by factors of $`(1/M^2)^n`$. An upper limit on $`M^2`$ is obtained by requiring that the contributions from the higher resonances and the continuum should not be too large. A lower limit on $`M^2`$ is obtained from requiring that terms supressed by powers of $`1/M^2`$ should be subdominant. It is important to check that this defines a window, in which the final results are insensitive to the variation of the Borel parameter $`M^2`$.

## 3 $`B\pi \overline{l}\nu `$ and sum rules on the light cone

The relevant hadronic matrix element is parameterized by two form factors $`f^+`$ and $`f^{}`$ :

$`\pi (q)|\overline{u}\gamma _\mu b|B(p+q)`$ $`=`$ $`2f^+(p^2)q_\mu +\left(f^+(p^2)+f^{}(p^2)\right)p_\mu `$ (5)   
If we neglect lepton masses only the form factor $`f^+`$ gives a contribution to the decay width. In order to obtain $`f^+`$ from QCD sum rules we start from the correlation function

$`F_\mu (p,q)`$ $`=`$ $`i{\displaystyle d^4xe^{ipx}\pi (q)|T(\overline{u}(x)\gamma _\mu b(x),\overline{b}(0)im_b\gamma _5d(0))|0}`$ (6)   
$`=`$ $`F(p^2,(p+q)^2)q_\mu +\stackrel{~}{F}(p^2,(p+q)^2)p_\mu .`$   
It can be shown  that a short distance expansion is only useful in the soft pion limit ($`q0`$). A better approach is provided by the expansion around the light cone $`x^2=0`$ with operators of increasing twist. In our case the leading twist-2 contribution is given by

$`\pi (q)|\overline{u}(x)\gamma _\mu \gamma _5d(0)|0`$ $`=`$ $`iq_\mu f_\pi {\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{1}{}}}𝑑ue^{iuqx}\phi _\pi (u).`$ (7)   
$`\phi _\pi (u)`$ is known as the twist-2 pion light-cone wave function. The correlation function $`F`$ can now be written as a convolution of the pion wave function with a hard scattering amplitude $`T(p^2,(p+q)^2,u)`$:

$`F(p^2,(p+q)^2)`$ $`=`$ $`f_\pi {\displaystyle \underset{0}{\overset{1}{}}}𝑑u\phi _\pi (u)T(p^2,(p+q)^2,u)`$ (8)   
The hard scattering amplitude $`T`$ can be calculated within perturbation theory, whereas the light-cone wave function contains the non-perturbative information. At NLO both the hard scattering amplitude $`T`$ and the wave function $`\phi _\pi `$ depend on a factorization scale $`\mu `$. The evolution of $`\phi _\pi `$ with this scale can be calculated perturbatively  . The Brodsky-Lepage evolution kernel for the pion wave function is analog to the Altarelli-Parisi kernel describing the evolution of parton densities. It turns out that it is convenient to express the wave function in terms of Gegenbauer polynomials. To leading order these Gegenbauer polynomials are eigenfunctions of the evolution kernel. However this is no longer true at next-to-leading order and mixing effects have to be taken into account. At present the twist 2 contributions have been calculated to next-to-leading order , and twist 3 and twist 4 to leading order . Fig. 1 shows the result for the $`B\pi `$ form factor obtained from the light-cone sum rule in comparison to lattice results.

The theoretical error is estimated from a variation of the Borel parameter, the $`b`$-quark mass, the threshold parameter $`s_0`$, the quark condensate density and the normalization scale. Furthermore our insufficient knowledge of the shape of the light-cone wave functions, unknown higher order perturbative corrections or higher twist effects contribute as well to the theoretical error. Our final result is fitted to the parameterization 

$`f^+(p^2)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{f^+(0)}{\left(1\frac{p^2}{m_B^{}^2}\right)\left(1\alpha \frac{p^2}{m_B^{}^2}\right)}}`$ (9)   
with

$`f^+(0)=0.27\pm 0.05,`$ $`\alpha =0.35\pm 0.01.`$ (10)   
The form factor $`f^+(p^2)`$ enters the partial decay width

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\mathrm{\Gamma }}{dp^2}}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{G_F^2|V_{ub}|^2}{24\pi ^3}}\left(E_\pi ^2m_\pi ^2\right)^{3/2}\left(f^+(p^2)\right)^2.`$ (11)   
Integration yields

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }(B^0\pi ^{}e^+\nu _e)`$ $`=`$ $`(6.7\pm 2.8)|V_{ub}|^2\text{ps}^1.`$ (12)   
Comparing this with the experimental value 

$`\mathrm{\Gamma }(B^0\pi ^{}e^+\nu _e)`$ $`=`$ $`(1.15\pm 0.34)10^4\text{ps}^1`$ (13)   
one obtains 

$`|V_{ub}|`$ $`=`$ $`0.0041\pm 0.0005\pm 0.0006,`$ (14)   
where the first error corresponds to the current experimental uncertainty and the second error to the estimated theoretical uncertainty. One may expect more precise data from the forecoming experiments of Babar and Belle. On the theoretical side, an improved knowledge of the pion light-cone wave function and perturbative corrections to twist 3 would reduce the theoretical error.

## References