Precision determination of |V_{ub}| from inclusive decays

Abstract

We propose determining |V_{ub}| from inclusive semileptonic B decay using combined cuts on the leptonic and hadronic invariant masses to eliminate the b->c background. Compared to a pure dilepton invariant mass cut, the uncertainty from unknown order (\Lambda_{QCD}/m_b)^3 terms in the OPE is significantly reduced and the fraction of b->u events is roughly doubled. Compared to a pure hadronic invariant mass cut, the uncertainty from the unknown light-cone distribution function of the b quark is significantly reduced. We find that |V_{ub}| can be determined with theoretical uncertainty at the 5-10% level.