Measurement of the Branching Fractions for the Decays B+ -> rho+ gamma, B0 -> rho0 gamma, and B0 -> omega gamma

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of rare B meson decay branching fractions involving rho and omega mesons, providing insights into CKM matrix elements and testing the Standard Model predictions.

Contribution

First measurement of these specific B decay branching fractions using BaBar data, and extraction of the CKM matrix element ratio |V_td/V_ts|.

Findings

Measured BF(B+ -> rho+ gamma) = (1.06^{+0.35}_{-0.31} +- 0.09) x 10^{-6}

Measured BF(B+ -> rho0 gamma) = (0.77^{+0.21}_{-0.19} +- 0.07) x 10^{-6}

Set upper limit BF(B0 -> omega gamma) < 0.84 x 10^{-6}

Abstract

We present preliminary results of a search for the decays B+ -> rho+ gamma, B0 -> rho0 gamma, and B0 -> omega gamma. The analysis is based on data containing 347 million BB events recorded with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II B factory. We measure branching fractions of BF(B+ -> rho+ gamma) = (1.06^{+0.35}_{-0.31} +- 0.09) x 10^{-6} and BF(B+ -> rho0 gamma) = (0.77^{+0.21}_{-0.19} +- 0.07) x 10^{-6}, where the first errors are statistical and the second systematic, and set a 90% C.L. upper limit of BF(B0 -> omega gamma) < 0.84 10^{-6}. Assuming isospin relations between the three branching fractions, these results are used to determine the CKM matrix element ratio |V_td/V_ts| = 0.171^{+0.018}_{-0.021}(exp.)^{+0.017}_{-0.014}(theor.).