Direct CP Violation in Untagged B-Meson Decays

Abstract

Direct CP violation can exist in untagged, neutral B-meson decays to certain self-conjugate, hadronic final states. It can occur if the resonances which appear therein permit the identification of distinct, CP-conjugate states -- in analogy to stereochemistry, we term such states ``CP-enantiomers.'' These states permit the construction of a CP-odd amplitude combination in the untagged decay rate, which is non-zero if direct CP violation is present. The decay B\to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0, containing the distinct CP-conjugate states \rho^+ \pi^- and \rho^- \pi^+, provides one such example of a CP-enantiomeric pair. We illustrate the possibilities in various multi-particle final states.