Theoretical progress in describing the B-meson lifetimes

Abstract

The present status of the theoretical estimates of the difference between the widths of the neutral Bs-mesons and of the B-meson lifetime ratios is reviewed. In particular, the lattice results for the matrix elements of the relevant (delta B=2)-operators are updated and the first lattice QCD results for the matrix elements of (delta B=0)-operators are presented. In both cases, the NLO perturbative QCD corrections in the coefficient functions have been included. The theoretically updated results are: (delta Gamma/Gamma)_{Bs} = (7 +/- 4) %, tau(B+)/tau(Bd) = 1.07(3) and tau(Bs)/tau(Bd) = 1.00(2).