Semileptonic form factors D $\rightarrow$ $\pi$, K and B $\rightarrow$ $\pi$, K from a fine lattice

Abstract

We extract the form factors relevant for semileptonic decays of D and B mesons from a relativistic computation on a fine lattice in the quenched approximation. The lattice spacing is a = 0.04 fm (corresponding to a ^-1 = 4.97 GeV), which allows us to run very close to the physical B meson mass, and to reduce the systematic errors associated with the extrapolation in terms of a heavy-quark expansion. For decays of D and D_s mesons, our results for the physical form factors at $\ensuremath q^2 = 0$ are as follows: $\ensuremath f_+^{D\rightarrow\pi}(0) = 0.74(6)(4)$ , $\ensuremath f_+^{D \rightarrow K}(0) = 0.78(5)(4)$ and $\ensuremath f_+^{D_s \rightarrow K} (0) = 0.68(4)(3)$ . Similarly, for B and B_s we find $\ensuremath f_+^{B\rightarrow\pi}(0) = 0.27(7)(5)$ , $\ensuremath f_+^{B\rightarrow K} (0) = 0.32(6)(6)$ and $\ensuremath f_+^{B_s\rightarrow K}(0) = 0.23(5)(4)$ . We compare our results with other quenched and unquenched lattice calculations, as well as with light-cone sum rule predictions, finding good agreement.