Semi-inclusive hadronic B decays in the endpoint region

Abstract

We consider in the soft-collinear effective theory semi-inclusive hadronic B decays, B-> XM, in which an energetic light meson M near the endpoint recoils against an inclusive jet X. We focus on a subset of decays where the spectator quark from the B meson ends up in the jet. The branching ratios and direct CP asymmetries are computed to next-to-leading order accuracy in alpha_s and to leading order in 1/m_b. The contribution of charming penguins is extensively discussed, and a method to extract it in semi-inclusive decays is suggested. Subleading 1/m_b corrections and SU(3) breaking effects are discussed.

31 pages, 7 figures