Determination of |V(us)|| from a lattice QCD calculation of the K → πℓν semileptonic form factor with physical quark masses.

We calculate the kaon semileptonic form factor f+(0) from lattice QCD, working, for the first time, at the physical light-quark masses. We use gauge configurations generated by the MILC Collaboration with Nf = 2 + 1 + 1 flavors of sea quarks, which incorporate the effects of dynamical charm quarks as well as those of up, down, and strange. We employ data at three lattice spacings to extrapolate to the continuum limit. Our result, f+(0) = 0.9704(32), where the error is the total statistical plus systematic uncertainty added in quadrature, is the most precise determination to date. Combining our result with the latest experimental measurements of K semileptonic decays, one obtains the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element |V(us)| = 0.22290(74)(52), where the first error is from f+(0) and the second one is from experiment. In the first-row test of Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa unitarity, the error stemming from |V(us)| is now comparable to that from |V(ud)|.

Kaon B parameter from improved staggered fermions in N(f)=2+1 QCD.

We present a calculation of the kaon B parameter B(K) using lattice QCD. We use improved staggered valence and sea fermions, the latter generated by the MILC Collaboration with N(f)=2+1 light flavors. To control discretization errors, we use four different lattice spacings ranging down to a≈0.045 fm. The chiral and continuum extrapolations are done using SU(2) staggered chiral perturbation theory. Our final result is B(K)=0.727±0.004(stat)±0.038(syst), where the dominant systematic error is from our use of truncated (one-loop) matching factors.

Refining new-physics searches in B→Dτν with lattice QCD.

The semileptonic decay channel B→Dτν is sensitive to the presence of a scalar current, such as that mediated by a charged-Higgs boson. Recently, the BABAR experiment reported the first observation of the exclusive semileptonic decay B→Dτ(-)ν, finding an approximately 2σ disagreement with the standard-model prediction for the ratio R(D)=BR(B→Dτν)/BR(B→Dℓν), where ℓ = e,µ. We compute this ratio of branching fractions using hadronic form factors computed in unquenched lattice QCD and obtain R(D)=0.316(12)(7), where the errors are statistical and total systematic, respectively. This result is the first standard-model calculation of R(D) from ab initio full QCD. Its error is smaller than that of previous estimates, primarily due to the reduced uncertainty in the scalar form factor f(0)(q(2)). Our determination of R(D) is approximately 1σ higher than previous estimates and, thus, reduces the tension with experiment. We also compute R(D) in models with electrically charged scalar exchange, such as the type-II two-Higgs-doublet model. Once again, our result is consistent with, but approximately 1σ higher than, previous estimates for phenomenologically relevant values of the scalar coupling in the type-II model. As a by-product of our calculation, we also present the standard-model prediction for the longitudinal-polarization ratio P(L)(D)=0.325(4)(3).