Factorization for exclusive B decays: status, (N)NLO results, and open issues

by Sebastian Jaeger (CERN)

Friday 21 Sept 2007, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Zurich

TH Theory Conference Room (CERN)

Factorization based on the heavy-quark limit allows for a systematic improvement of "naive factorization" for the hadronic amplitudes that theory must provide or constrain in order to extract weak-scale parameters from the plentiful available and expected data on exclusive B decays. Focussing on charmless hadronic decays, after reviewing the assumptions underlying the framework, as well as its (re)formulation using the soft-collinear effective theory, I discuss the qualitative picture and phenomenological status before presenting several O(alpha(s)^2) QCD corrections that have been recently computed. The impact on phenomenology and in particular the status of the charm penguin amplitudes will be discussed, and a list of missing pieces given.