Origin of a large CP asymmetry in B+- --> K+ K- K+ decays

Abstract

Large $CP$-violating asymmetry effects in the B+- --> K+ K- K decays have been predicted in the QCD factorization model. The model includes strong K+ K- final-state long-distance interactions in the S-, P-, and also (in the recent analysis) D- wave two-body states. The S-wave two-body unitarity conditions involve interchannel couplings of the kaon-kaon states with the intermediate states of two pions and four pions. As a result, the pion-pion to kaon-kaon rescattering effects are included in the model. It is shown how the weak phase differences together with the existence of two different strong phases of the S-wave decay amplitudes (related to the phases of the kaon scalar strange and non-strange form factors) contribute to the CP-asymmetry in question. The theoretical results are compared with recent experimental data of the LHCb and BABAR Collaborations.