Group theory predictions for B --> M₁M₂M₃

Abstract

The study of B meson decays to 3 pseudoscalar mesons MMM provides a promising arena for constraining CP violation from the Standard Model and searching for "new physics". In this thesis we derive decay amplitudes, rates, and CP asymmetries for B mesons decaying to MMM, in the limit of SU(2) isospin and in the limit of SU(3) quark flavor symmetry. Our results are classified according to the relative angular momentum of mesons in the final states. When all the mesons have relative even angular momentum, there are 56 decay channels expressed as linear combinations of 7 reduced matrix elements. There are also 7 reduced matrix elements for the 36 decay channels where all the mesons have relative odd angular momentum. These results imply relations between the decay amplitudes, including several isospin triangles for B --> MMM, analogous to the B --> [pi][pi] isospin triangle. We also derive sum rules for isospin triangle. We also derive sum rules for B --> MMM, which give approximate SU(2) relations among branching ratios and CP asymmetries.