In this thesis, the semileptonic decays of heavy mesons are treated using fully relativistic kinematics. By means of an effective vertex, the effects of Fermi momentum are included both at the inclusive and at the exclusive levels, and the spins of both parent and daughter particles are taken into account. The differential decay rates with respect to the lepton energy and momentum transfer are compared with data from ARGUS and CLEO. This approach is superior to both the ACCMM and ISGW models in that it enables us to precisely calculate CKM matrix elements and decay constants in addition to the inclusive and exclusive rates. From the inclusive data, we both conclude that $ rm {v sb{ub} over V sb{cb}} = .07 pm .05$ and estimate the magnitudes of the matrix elements themselves to be $ rm vert V sb{ub} vert = .038 pm .004$ and $ rm vert V sb{cb} vert = .003 pm .002$. Of particular interest is the fact this model predicts that the exclusive decays $B to Dl sbsp{ mu}{-}$ and $B to D sp*l sbsp{ mu}{-}$ together only account for about 60% of the total rate and thus agrees with data that suggests that as much as 40% of the total B semileptonic decay occurs through other channels. The B and D decay constants are, meanwhile, estimated to be $f sb{B}$ = f$ sb{D} approx 0.4$ GeV. After taking the heavy quark limit we also obtain $ rho sp2 = .9 pm .4$.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.40425 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Phipps, Martin. |
| Contributors | Lam, C. S. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Physics.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001538188, proquestno: NN19764, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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