Related papers: Tracking down penguins at the poles
A major goal in B physics is measuring the CP-violating asymmetry in the decay $B^0 \rightarrow \pi^+ \pi^-$. In order to determine one of the phase angles in the CKM matrix from this decay it is necessary to determine the influence of the…
The Standard-Model interpretation of the ratios of charged and neutral B-> pi K rates, R_c and R_n, respectively, points towards a puzzling picture. Since these observables are affected significantly by colour-allowed electroweak (EW)…
I discuss the comparison of the current theoretical calculations of epsilon'/epsilon with the experimental data. Lacking reliable ``first principle'' calculations, phenomenological approaches may help in understanding correlations among…
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 pointed out that chiral transformation properties of penguin operators change in the transition from unquenched to (partially) quenched QCD. As a consequence, new operators appear in (partially) quenched QCD penguins,…
The use of G-parity boundary conditions to compute Delta I = 1/2, K to pi pi decays is reviewed and a method to consistently treat both the pions and kaon in full QCD proposed. This approach creates a physical, final-state, pion momentum…
A bound on the angle gamma of the unitarity triangle is derived using experimental information on the CP-averaged branching ratios for the rare decays B^+- -> pi^+- K^0 and B^+- -> pi^0 K^+-. The theoretical description is cleaner than the…
The experimental value for the isospin amplitude Re(A_2) in K->pi pi decays has been successfully explained within the Standard Model, both within large N approach to QCD and by QCD lattice calculations. On the other hand in both approaches…
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,…
In the recent literature, constraints on the CKM angle $\gamma$ arising from the branching ratios for $B^\pm\to\pi^\pm K$ and $B_d\to\pi^\mp K^\pm$ decays received a lot of attention. An important theoretical limitation of the accuracy of…
We investigate the CP-averaged branching ratios, the polarization fractions, the relative phases, and the CP-violating asymmetries of the penguin-dominated $B \to \phi K_1(1270) $ and $ \phi K_1(1400)$ decays in the perturbative QCD(pQCD)…
Performing a fit to the available experimental data, we quantify the effect of long-distance contributions from penguin contractions in B^0 to J/psi K^0 decays. We estimate the deviation of the measured S_CP term of the time-dependent CP…
We present an {\it algebraic} isospin approach towards a more straightforward and model-independent determination of the weak phase $\alpha$ (or $\phi_2$) and QCD penguin pollution in $B\to \pi\pi$ decays. The world averages of current…
New contributions to the short-distance b --> s eta' transition are considered. They correspond to the quark and gluon content of eta'. Although substantially larger than the referent QCD anomaly tail, they still cannot account for the…
We apply the quasi-elastic assumption of the strong final state interactions to describe the B to pi-pi and B to pi-K branching ratios and CP asymmetries and derive bounds on gamma. We find that small electroweak penguins contributions and…
A review of methods to extract the standard CKM unitarity triangle angle alpha is provided. The sizes of related theoretical errors are reviewed.
We discuss a possibility of large electroweak(EW) penguin contribution in B-->K pi and pi pi. The recent experimental data may be still suggesting that there are some discrepancies between the data and theoretical estimations. In B --> K pi…
Based on the most recent data in charmless B decays including the very recently reported large direct CP violations, it is shown that the weak phase gamma can well be extracted without two-fold ambiguity even only from two decay modes…
We perform an isospin analysis of $B$ decays to two pseudoscalars. The analysis extracts appropriate CKM and short distance loop factors to allow for comparison of non-perturbative QCD effects in the reduced matrix elements of the…
Including corrections of order $O(m_{K^*}/m_B)$, we present an analysis of photonic penguin contributions to the decay $B\to K^* \gamma$ in the perturbative QCD framework. Employing several models of the meson wave functions, we demonstrate…