QCD Factorization in B -> pi K, pi pi decays and extraction of Wolfenstein parameters

By Martin Beneke, G. Buchalla, M. Neubert, C. Sachrajda. 2001

576 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract In the heavy-quark limit, the hadronic matrix elements entering nonleptonic B-meson decays into two light mesons can be calculated from first principles including “nonfactorizable” strong-interaction corrections. The B→πK, ππ decay amplitudes are computed including electroweak penguin contributions, SU(3) violation in the light-cone distribution amplitudes, and an estimate of power corrections from chirally-enhanced terms and annihilation graphs. The results are then used to reduce the theoretical uncertainties in determinations of the weak phases γ and α. In that way, new constraints in the ( ρ , η ) plane are derived. Predictions for the B→πK, ππ branching ratios and CP asymmetries are also presented. A good global fit to the (in part preliminary) experimental data on the branching fractions is obtained without taking recourse to phenomenological models.

Subfields: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3daf03a1c4604a44304d5e8e62fd9cbaa61ffad4