On Large Final-State Phases in Heavy Meson Decays

TL;DR

This paper investigates conditions under which heavy meson decays exhibit significant final-state interaction phases, highlighting how rescattering can enhance decay rates beyond simple factorization predictions.

Contribution

It identifies scenarios where rescattering effects lead to large phase differences and increased decay rates in $D$ and $B$ meson decays, advancing understanding of final-state interactions.

Findings

Rescattering can significantly alter decay amplitudes.

Large eigenphase differences are possible in certain decay channels.

Decay rates can be enhanced beyond factorization estimates.

Abstract

An attempt is made to identify circumstances under which the weak decays of $D$ and $B$ mesons may display large differences between eigenphases of strong final-state interactions. There are several cases in which rescattering from other final states appears to enhance decay rates with respect to estimates based on the factorization hypothesis.