Resolution to the $B\to\phi K^*$ polarization puzzle

Abstract

We resolve the $B\to\phi K^{*}$ polarization puzzle by postulating a smaller $B\to K^*$ form factor $A_0\approx 0.3$ and by adding penguin annihilation and nonfactorizable contributions from the perturbative QCD approach. If this explanation is valid, the penguin-dominated modes governed by the $B\to K^*$ form factors, such as $B^+\to K^{*+} K^{*0}$ and $B^0\to K^{*0} {\bar K}^{*0}$, should exhibit similar polarization fractions. Our resolution is compared with others in the literature, and experimental discrimination is proposed.