Related papers: Large electroweak penguins in B --> pi pi and B --…
The large ratio of color-suppressed tree amplitude to color-allowed one in $B \to \pi \pi$ decays is difficult to understand within the Standard Model, which is known as the "$B \to \pi\pi$ puzzle". The two tree diagrams contain the up- and…
Supersymmetric contributions to the branching ratios and CP asymmetries of B--> K pi decays are analyzed in the view of recent experimental measurements. We show that supersymmetry can still provide a natural solution to the apparent…
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…
Measurements of the combined branching ratios for $B^\pm \to \pi^\pm K$ and $B_d \to \pi^\mp K^\pm$ allow interesting constraints on the CKM angle $\gamma$, the ratio $r \equiv |T'|/|P'|$ of the current-current and penguin operator…
We present strategies for determining electroweak penguins from experimental data. Using the CKM-angle $\gamma$ as one of our central inputs and making some reasonable approximations, we show that the $\bar b\to\bar s$ electroweak penguin…
The influence of strong and electroweak penguin amplitudes in $B/ \bar B \rightarrow \pi^+\pi^-$ is investigated in connection with the determination of the unitarity triangle angle $\alpha$ of the CKM matrix. A relation between the…
In the absence of the QCD penguin contributions a measurement of the time-dependent asymmetry in the decay $B^0(t)\to \pi^+\pi^-$ gives directly the weak angle $\alpha$. Several bounds have been proposed in the literature on the magnitude…
Recently, we developed a strategy to analyse the B -> pi pi,pi K data. We found that the B -> pi pi measurements can be accommodated in the Standard Model (SM) through large non-factorizable effects. On the other hand, our analysis of the…
We analyse the B -> pi pi, pi K modes in the light of the most recent B-factory data, and obtain the following new results: (i) the B0 -> pi+ pi-, pi- K+ modes prefer gamma=(74+-6)deg, which - together with |V_ub/V_cb| - allows us to…
The difference between the CP asymmetries of the $B^0 \to K^+ \pi^-$ and $B^+ \to K^+ \pi^0$ decays has been recently confirmed with an evidence larger than $5\sigma$'s. We discuss it as a possible signal of new physics associated with new…
Based on the low energy effective Hamiltonian with generalized factorization, we calculate the new physics contributions to the branching ratios and CP-violating asymmetries of the two-body charmless hadronic decays $B \to PP, PV$ from the…
In the study of two-body charmless B decays as a mean of looking for direct CP-violation and measuring the CKM mixing parameters in the Standard Model, the short-distance penguin contribution with its absorptive part generated by charm…
CP-violating asymmetries in the decay $B^0(t)\to \pi^+ \pi^-$ are a potentially rich source of information about both strong and weak phases. In a previous treatment by the present authors use was made of an assumption about the relative…
We report on recent progress in studying two aspects of $B$ physics, in which penguin amplitudes play an important role: (1) Bounds on penguin pollution in $B^0(t) \to \pi^+\pi^-$ constraining CKM parameters, and a lower bound on $B^0 \to…
In the light of new experimental results on B -> K pi decays, we critically study the decay processes B -> K pi in a phenomenological way. Using the quark diagram approach and the currently available data, we determine the allowed values of…
We present the studies of the decays $B\to a_1(1260) \pi$ and $a_1(1260) K$ within the framework of QCD factorization. Due to the G-parity, unlike the vector meson, the chiral-odd two-parton light-cone distribution amplitudes of the $a_1$…
The 2.5 sigma discrepancy between theory and experiment observed in the difference Delta ACP = ACP(B- --> pi0 K-) - ACP(Bb0 --> pi+ K-) can be explained by a new electroweak (EW) penguin amplitude. Motivated by this result, we have analyzed…
Penguin, or loop, decays of B mesons induce effective flavor-changing neutral currents, which are forbidden at tree level in the Standard Model. These decays give special insight into the CKM matrix and are sensitive to non-standard model…
The measurements of B -> pi K decays have been in disagreement with the predictions of the Standard Model (SM) for some time. In this paper, we perform an update of this puzzle using the latest (2008) data. We find that the situation has…
We examine new-physics (NP) effects in B decays with large b -> s penguin amplitudes. Decays involving b -> d penguins are assumed to be unaffected. We consider a model-independent parametrization of such NP. We argue that NP strong phases…