Reconsideration of the QCD corrections to the $\eta_c$ decays into light hadrons using the principle of maximum conformality

Abstract

In the paper, we analyze the $\eta_c$ decays into light hadrons at the next-to-leading order QCD corrections by applying the principle of maximum conformality (PMC). The relativistic correction at the ${\cal{O}}(\alpha_s v^2)$-order level has been included in the discussion, which gives about $10\%$ contribution to the ratio $R$. The PMC, which satisfies the renormalization group invariance, is designed to obtain a scale-fixed and scheme-independent prediction at any fixed order. To avoid the confusion of treating $n_f$-terms, we transform the usual $\overline{\rm MS}$ pQCD series into the one under the minimal momentum space subtraction scheme. To compare with the prediction under conventional scale setting, $R_{\rm{Conv,mMOM}-r}= \left(4.12^{+0.30}_{-0.28}\right)\times10^3$, after applying the PMC, we obtain $R_{\rm PMC,mMOM-r}=\left(6.09^{+0.62}_{-0.55}\right) \times10^3$, where the errors are squared averages of the ones caused by $m_c$ and $\Lambda_{\rm mMOM}$. The PMC prediction agrees with the recent PDG value within errors, i.e. $R^{\rm exp}=\left(6.3\pm0.5\right)\times10^3$. Thus we think the mismatching of the prediction under conventional scale-setting with the data is due to improper choice of scale, which however can be solved by using the PMC.