Heavy Quark Theory

Abstract

These lectures describe the most important theoretical methods in b-physics. We discuss the formalism of effective weak Hamiltonians, heavy quark effective theory, the heavy quark expansion for inclusive decays of b-hadrons and, finally, the more recent ideas of QCD factorization for exclusive nonleptonic B decays. While the main emphasis is put on introducing the basic theoretical concepts, some key applications in phenomenology are also presented for illustration.