The gluonic decay of the b-quark and the η′-meson

The observed inclusive decay of B-mesons into η′ + X is interpred as the consequence of the gluonic decay of the b-quark into an s-quark. As a result of the QCD anomaly this decay proceeds partly as the decay b → s + η′, similar to b → s + Jψ. The hadronic recoiling system is found to have a relatively large mass. Analogously one expects a decay of the type b → s + σ. The branching ratios for these decays are large (of the order of 10 %). The results indicate that there is no room for an anomalously large chromomagnetic decay mode of the b-quark. Gluon jets are expected to exhibit an anomalously large tendency to fragment into η′- and σ- mesons.