Factorization and Sudakov Resummation in Leptonic Radiative B Decay

Abstract

Soft-collinear effective theory is used to prove factorization of the B->gamma+l+nu decay amplitude at leading power in Lambda/m_b, including a demonstration of the absence of non-valence Fock states and of the finiteness of the convolution integral in the factorization formula. Large logarithms entering the hard-scattering kernel are resummed by performing a two-step perturbative matching onto the low-energy effective theory, and by solving evolution equations derived from the renormalization properties of the leading-order B-meson light-cone distribution amplitude. As a byproduct, the evolution equation for heavy-collinear current operators in soft-collinear effective theory is derived.

Comments: 20 pages, 5 figures; several references added or updated, extended discussion of the new elements of the factorization proof, typo in eq.(6) fixed; version to appear in Phys. Rev. D