NNLO QCD corrections to the $q^2$ spectrum of inclusive semileptonic $B$-meson decays

Abstract

We calculate the next-to-next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the leptonic invariant mass ($q^2$) spectrum of semileptonic $b \to c$ inclusive decays, taking into account the mass of the charm quark and the charged lepton in the final state. We obtain analytic results in terms of generalized polylogarithms and present numerical studies of the $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^2)$ corrections to the $q^2$ spectrum of $b \to c \ell \bar \nu_\ell$ decays, for $\ell =e, \mu$ and $\tau$, in the kinetic scheme. Our computation can be used to incorporate the recent measurements of $q^2$ moments by Belle and Belle II into global fits of inclusive semileptonic $B$-decays.