Radiative B Decays: Standard Candles of Flavor Physics

Abstract

Rare radiative decays based on b->s+gamma transitions are among the most prominent examples of flavor-changing neutral current processes. They benefit from good theoretical control and experimental accessibility, large sensitivity to physics beyond the Standard Model, and the availability of many observables. In this talk I summarize the status of the theoretical understanding of these decays and review how they may be used to constrain extensions of the Standard Model, with particular focus on supersymmetric models.