Beautiful CP Violation

Abstract

CP violation is observed to date only in K^0 decays and is parameterizable by a single quantity epsilon. Because it is one of the least understood phenomena in the Standard Model and holds a clue to baryogenesis, it must be investigated further. Highly specialized searches in K^0 decays are possible. Effects in B decays are much larger. In addition to the traditional B_d -> J/\psi K_S, pi^+pi^- asymmetries, CP violation could be searched for in already existing inclusive B data samples. The rapid B_s - B_s.bar oscillations cancel in untagged B_s data samples, which therefore allow feasibility studies for the observation of CP violation and the extraction of CKM elements with present vertex detectors. The favored method for the extraction of the CKM angle gamma is shown to be unfeasible and a solution is presented involving striking direct CP violation in charged B decays. Novel methods for determining the B_s mixing parameter Delta m are described without the traditional requirement of flavor-specific final states.