Exclusive Radiative Decays of W and Z Bosons in QCD Factorization

Abstract

We present a detailed theoretical analysis of very rare, exclusive hadronic decays of the electroweak gauge bosons V=W, Z from first principles of QCD. Our main focus is on the radiative decays V->M+gamma, in which M is a pseudoscalar or vector meson. At leading order in an expansion in powers of Lambda_{QCD}/m_V the decay amplitudes can be factorized into convolutions of calculable hard-scattering coefficients with the leading-twist light-cone distribution amplitude of the meson M. Power corrections to the decay rates arise first at order (Lambda_{QCD}/m_V)^2. They can be estimated in terms of higher-twist distribution amplitudes and are predicted to be tiny. We include one-loop O(alpha_s) radiative corrections to the hard-scattering coefficients and perform the resummation of large logarithms [alpha_s log(m_V^2/mu_0^2)]^n (with mu_0=1 GeV a typical hadronic scale) to all orders in perturbation theory. Evolution effects have an important impact both numerically and conceptually, since they reduce the sensitivity to poorly determined hadronic parameters. We present detailed numerical predictions and error estimates, which can serve as benchmarks for future precision measurements. We also present an exploratory study of the weak radiative decays Z->M+W. Some of the decay modes studied here have branching ratios large enough to be accessible in the high-luminosity run of the LHC. Many of them can be measured with high accuracy at a future lepton collider. This will provide stringent tests of the QCD factorization formalism and enable novel searches for new physics.

arXiv comment37 pages (+ appendices and references), 9 figures and 9 tables. v2: Comparison with recent ATLAS data added, minor revisions + some references added. v3: decay constant of the phi and omega mesons updated and few typos fixed; version published in JHEP

References in corpus (37)

• Rigorous QCD Analysis of Inclusive Annihilation and Production of Heavy Quarkonium
• Heavy Quark Symmetry
• QCD Factorization for $B\to \pi \pi$ Decays: Strong Phases and CP Violation in the Heavy Quark Limit
• QCD factorization for exclusive, non-leptonic B meson decays: General arguments and the case of heavy-light final states
• QCD factorization for B->PP and B->PV decays
• QCD Factorization in B -> pi K, pi pi Decays and Extraction of Wolfenstein Parameters
• Invariant Operators in Collinear Effective Theory
• Soft-collinear effective theory and heavy-to-light currents beyond leading power
• RunDec: a Mathematica package for running and decoupling of the strong coupling and quark masses
• Symmetry-breaking corrections to heavy-to-light B meson form factors at large recoil
• Model-independent constraints on Delta F=2 operators and the scale of New Physics
• The renormalization of the axial anomaly in dimensional regularization
• Higher Twist Distribution Amplitudes of Vector Mesons in QCD: Formalism and Twist Three Distributions
• Flavor Violating Higgs Decays
• Higher-Twist Distribution Amplitudes of the K Meson in QCD
• Quark structure of pseudoscalar mesons
• Flavor-Singlet B-Decay Amplitudes in QCD Factorization
• Two-loop Correction to the Leptonic Decay of Quarkonium
• Two-loop QCD corrections to the heavy quark pair production cross section in e+e- annihilation near the threshold
• B-meson decay constants from improved lattice NRQCD and physical u, d, s and c sea quarks
• Twist-3 Distribution Amplitudes of K* and phi Mesons
• Renormalization-Group Evolution of the B-Meson Light-Cone Distribution Amplitude
• Spectator Interactions in Soft-Collinear Effective Theory
• An Exclusive Window onto Higgs Yukawa Couplings
• Factorization and Sudakov Resummation in Leptonic Radiative B Decay
• SU(3) Breaking of Leading--Twist K and K* Distribution Amplitudes - a Reprise
• Probing the nature of the Higgs-like Boson via h -> VF decays
• Non-Leptonic Weak Decays of B Mesons
• B-physics from Nf=2 tmQCD: the Standard Model and beyond
• The study of leading twist light cone wave function of η_c meson
• Operator Relations for SU(3) Breaking Contributions to K and K* Distribution Amplitudes
• Leptonic decay of the Upsilon(1S) meson at third order in QCD
• NRQCD matrix elements for S-wave bottomonia and Gamma[eta_b(nS) -> gamma gamma] with relativistic corrections
• Decay constants of B-mesons from non-perturbative HQET with two light dynamical quarks
• A note on Higgs decays into $Z$ boson and $J/\Psi ({\rm Y})$
• Probing New Physics in Higgs Couplings to Fermions using an Angular Analysis
• Possible huge enhancement in the radiative decay of the weal W boson into the charmed $D_s$ meson

Cited by in corpus (47)

• $B\to V{\ell }^{+}{\ell }^{-}$ in the Standard Model from Light-Cone Sum Rules
• Exclusive Radiative Higgs Decays as Probes of Light-Quark Yukawa Couplings
• Large long-distance contributions to the electric dipole moments of charged leptons in the standard model
• Constraining the Charm Yukawa and Higgs-quark Coupling Universality
• On the transition form factors of the axial-vector resonance $f_1(1285)$ and its decay into $e^{+}{e}^{-}$
• Prospects for measuring the Higgs coupling to light quarks
• Quark level and hadronic contributions to the electric dipole moment of charged leptons in the standard model
• Asymptotic behavior of meson transition form factors
• On lepton flavour universality in semileptonic $B_c\to {\eta }_c,J/\psi$ decays
• Searches for exclusive Higgs and $Z$ boson decays into $J/\psi \gamma$, $\psi (2S)\gamma$, and ${\rm Y}(nS)\gamma$ at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
• Discovering sterile Neutrinos ligther than $M_W$ at the LHC
• Search for exclusive Higgs and $Z$ boson decays to $\varphi \gamma$ and $\rho \gamma$ with the ATLAS detector
• Decay constants of pseudoscalar and vector mesons with improved holographic wavefunction
• Subleading power corrections to the pion-photon transition form factor in QCD
• Search for rare decays of Z and Higgs bosons to J$/\psi$ and a photon in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV
• $Z$-boson decays to a vector quarkonium plus a photon
• Dispersion relation for hadronic light-by-light scattering: $\eta$ and ${\eta }^{\prime }$ poles
• Search for Higgs and $Z$ Boson Decays to $\varphi \gamma$ with the ATLAS Detector
• Exclusive Weak Radiative Higgs Decays in the Standard Model and Beyond
• Rare and exclusive few-body decays of the Higgs, Z, W bosons, and the top quark
• Light-cone distribution amplitudes of light mesons with QED effects
• Searches for exclusive Higgs and $Z$ boson decays into a vector quarkonium state and a photon using $139$ fb${}^{-1}$ of ATLAS $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV proton$-$proton collision data
• Exclusive Radiative Z-Boson Decays to Mesons with Flavor-Singlet Components
• Double Charmonia Production in Exclusive $Z$ Boson Decays
• Purely leptonic decays of the ground charged vector mesons
• Flavor Physics at the CEPC: a General Perspective
• Search for the rare decay of the W boson into a pion and a photon in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=$ 13 TeV
• Search for W boson decays to three charged pions
• A factorization theorem connecting the light-cone distribution amplitudes of heavy-flavor mesons in QCD and HQET
• $Z$ boson radiative decays to a $P$-wave quarkonium at NNLO and LL accuracy
• $Z$ boson radiative decays to a $S$-wave quarkonium at NNLO and NLL accuracy
• Note on rare $Z$-boson decays to double heavy quarkonia
• The leading twist light-cone distribution amplitudes for the S-wave and P-wave Bc mesons
• Seeking the CP-odd Higgs via $h\to {\eta }_{c,b}{\ell }^{+}{\ell }^{-}$
• Analysis of double-$J/\psi$ production in $Z$ decay at next-to-leading-order QCD accuracy
• Search for the rare decays $W^{+}\to D_s^{+}\gamma$ and $Z\to D^0\gamma$ at LHCb
• Comprehensive studies of ${\rm Y}$ inclusive production in $Z$ boson decay
• $W$ radiative decay to heavy-light mesons in HQET factorization through $\mathcal{O}({\alpha }_s)$
• Search for the exclusive $W$ boson hadronic decays $W^{\pm }\to {\pi }^{\pm }\gamma$, $W^{\pm }\to K^{\pm }\gamma$ and $W^{\pm }\to {\rho }^{\pm }\gamma$ with the ATLAS detector
• Lightest Higgs boson decays $h\to MZ$ in the $\mu$ from $\nu$ supersymmetric standard model
• Rare $W$-boson decays into a vector meson and lepton pair
• Semileptonic $W$ Decay to the $B$ Meson with Lepton Pairs in Heavy Quark Effective Theory Factorization upto $\mathcal{O}$$({\alpha }_s)$
• Invisible and Semi-invisible Decays of Bottom Baryons
• On the $h\to V{\ell }^{+}{\ell }^{-}$ decays
• Identifying $D$ mesons from Radiative $W$ decays at the Large Hadron Collider
• Improved analysis of rare $Z$-boson decays into a heavy vector quarkonium plus lepton pair
• Recent developments in HQET