Final State Interactions in Hadronic B Decays

TL;DR

This paper examines how final state interactions affect the measurement of the CKM angle gamma in B meson decays, highlighting potential complications and proposing alternative decay channels for more reliable bounds.

Contribution

It introduces a Regge-based model to estimate rescattering effects and suggests B -> K + K decays as a way to obtain model-independent bounds on these effects.

Findings

Final state interactions can significantly impact gamma extraction.

Rescattering effects may hinder reliable gamma limits.

B -> K + K decays offer a potential model-independent analysis.

Abstract

I discuss the effect of final state interactions on the determination of the CKM angle \gamma from B -> K + pi decays. Using a simple Regge-based model for rescattering processes, I argue that such effects could be substantial enough to make it problematic to obtain reliable limits on \gamma in this way. Fortunately, an analysis of B -> K + K decays may provide model-independent bounds on rescattering contributions.