Dalitz plot analysis of the decay B+- -> K+-K+-K-+

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed Dalitz plot analysis of the B+- -> K+-K+-K-+ decay, measuring its branching fraction, CP asymmetry, and decay dynamics, with a focus on the K+K- S-wave and resonance contributions.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive Dalitz plot analysis of this decay mode, including measurements of decay coefficients, phases, and resonance contributions, with no evidence of CP violation.

Findings

Branching fraction B = (35.2 +- 0.9 +-1.6) x 10^{-6}

CP asymmetry A_CP = (-1.7 +- 2.6 +- 1.5)%

Dominance of K+K- S-wave and resonance production

Abstract

We analyze the three-body charmless decay B+- -> K+-K+-K-+ using a sample of 226.0 +- 2.5 million BBbar pairs collected by the BABAR detector. We measure the total branching fraction and CP asymmetry to be B = (35.2 +- 0.9 +-1.6) x 10^{-6} and A_CP = (-1.7 +- 2.6 +- 1.5)%. We fit the Dalitz plot distribution using an isobar model and measure the magnitudes and phases of the decay coefficients. We find no evidence of CP violation for the individual components of the isobar model. The decay dynamics is dominated by the K+K- S-wave, for which we perform a partial-wave analysis in the region m(K+K-) < 2 GeV/c^2. Significant production of the f0(980) resonance, and of a spin zero state near 1.55 GeV/c^2 are required in the isobar model description of the data. The partial-wave analysis supports this observation.