Speaker
Description
Decays of $b$-hadrons provide precision probes of the Standard Model (SM) and constitute one of the most promising avenues for uncovering physics beyond it. In recent years, several tensions between experimental measurements and SM predictions have highlighted the need to critically reassess theoretical predictions. In view of the substantial increase in the amount of data from the high-luminosity phase of the LHC and the Belle II experiment, precise theoretical predictions with well-controlled uncertainties will be indispensable to fully exploit the discovery potential of these experiments.
From a theoretical perspective, $b$-hadron decays involve a wide range of energy scales, from the electroweak scale down to the hadronic scale of the strong interactions. In this context, effective field theories provide a systematically improvable framework that serves as a key tool for achieving the required level of precision. They allow for a separation of perturbative and non-perturbative effects, while power-counting rules determine the scaling of subleading contributions, which is crucial for reliable uncertainty estimates.
In this talk, I will give an overview of my work on precision calculations for $b$ decays using effective theories. I will discuss recent advances in the QCD factorization approach to exclusive non-leptonic $B$-meson decays, including QED corrections, power corrections in the heavy-quark expansion and a new strategy towards lattice determinations of a crucial non-perturbative input, the $B$-meson light-cone distribution amplitude. Furthermore, I will discuss a novel approach to describe non-factorisable soft-gluon contributions in rare $B$ decays and ongoing efforts to include radiative corrections to charm-loop contributions in inclusive $\bar{B} \to X_s \gamma$ channels. Lastly, I will highlight some methodological synergies between heavy flavor physics and precision calculations for Higgs-boson and top-quark production at the LHC.