Related papers: The B -> pi K Puzzle: 2009 Update
In this talk, I review the various measurements that have been made over the years of CP-violating observables in $B$ decays. These include indirect CP asymmetries, direct CP asymmetries, and triple products. All are discussed in the…
We analyze the possibility of observing new physics effects in the $b \to d$ penguin amplitudes. For this purpose, we consider the decay mode $B \to K^0 \bar K^0 $, which has only $b \to d$ penguin contributions. Using the QCD factorization…
The discrepancies among the measurements of branching ratios and CP asymmetries of $B$ arrow ${\pi}{\pi}$ decays such as large direct CP asymmetry for $B^0 $ arrow ${\pi}^+ {\pi}^-$ mode and large branching ratio for $B^0$ arrow ${\pi}^0…
Motivated by recent measurements, we investigate $B\to \pi \pi, K \pi$ decay modes in the framework of QCD improved factorization, which was recently proposed by Beneke $et al$. We find that all the measured branching ratios are well…
Some rare hadronic decays of B mesons, such as B->pi K, are sensitive to isospin-violating contributions from physics beyond the Standard Model. Although commonly referred to as electroweak penguins, such contributions can often arise…
A long-standing puzzle in charm physics is the large difference between the D0 -> K+ K- and D0 -> pi+ pi- decay rates. Recently, the LHCb and CDF collaborations reported a surprisingly large difference between the direct CP asymmetries,…
If the weak phase of B_s-anti B_s mixing (2 beta_s) is found to be significantly different from zero, this is a clear signal of new physics (NP). However, if such a signal is found, we would like an unambiguous determination of 2 beta_s in…
Various strategies for extracting or constraining the weak phase gamma with controlled theoretical uncertainties are reviewed. Measurements of the rates for the hadronic decays B^+- -> pi K provide largely model-independent information on…
We build a set of new observables using closely related non-leptonic penguin-mediated $B_d$ and $B_s$ decays: ${\bar B}_{d,s}\to K^{*0}\bar{K}^{*0}$, ${\bar B}_{d,s}\to K^{0}\bar{K}^{0}$, ${\bar B}_{d,s}\to K^{0}\bar{K}^{*0}$ and ${\bar…
Motivated by the large difference between the direct CP asymmetries $A_{CP}(B^-\to \pi^0 K^-)$ and $A_{CP}(\bar{B}^{0}\to \pi^{+} K^{-})$, we combine the up-to-date experimental information on $B\to\pi K$, $\pi K^{\ast}$ and $\rho K$ decays…
We present a method of determining the CKM-angle $\alpha$ by performing simultaneous measurements of the mixing-induced CP asymmetries of the decays $B_d\to\pi^+\pi^-$ and $B_d\to K^0\bar K^0$. The accuracy of our approach is limited by…
The decays $B \to PP$, where $P$ denotes a pseudoscalar meson, are analyzed, with emphasis on charmless final states. Numerous triangle relations for amplitudes hold within SU(3) symmetry, relating (for example) the decays $B^+ \to \pi^+…
We derive constraints for $B\to VV$ modes ($V= vector meson) that allow aquantitative assessment of the contributions from electroweak penguins (EWP) and/or new physics. Interplay of direct CP with oscillation studies then leads to the…
The recently observed $B^-\to K^- \pi^0$, $\bar K^0 \pi^-$ and $\bar B^0 \to K^- \pi^+$ decay modes appear to have nearly equal branching ratios. This suggests that tree and electroweak penguins play an important role, and inclusion of the…
We report improved measurements of branching fractions for B -> K pi and B -> pi pi decays based on a data sample of 449 million B Bbar pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB e^+e^- collider. We…
We show that in a decay of the form B_d or B_s-> P_1 P_2 gamma (where P_1 and P_2 are pseudoscalar mesons), through a flavor changing dipole transition, time dependent oscillations can reveal the presence of physics beyond the Standard…
We consider the new-physics (NP) solution to the polarization puzzle in B -> phi K* decays. We note that any such solution must reproduce the data in B -> phi Ks, where there are disagreements with the standard model in CP-asymmetry…
A Dalitz-plot analysis of Bd(t) -> rho pi -> pi+ pi- pi0 decays allows one to obtain the CP-violating phase \alpha. In addition, one can extract the various tree (T) and penguin (P) amplitudes contributing to these decays. By comparing the…
When studying B decays within the Standard Model, it is customary to use the unitarity of the CKM matrix in order to write the decay amplitudes in terms of only two of the three weak phases which appear in the various diagrams.…
Usually, B->pi+pi- decays are expressed in terms of weak amplitudes explicitly dependent on the CKM weak phase alpha or gamma. In this letter, we show that the weak amplitudes can be rewritten such that a manifest dependence on beta emerges…