Controlling Rescattering Effects in Constraints on the CKM Angle $\gamma$ arising from $B\to\pi K$ Decays

Abstract

It has recently been pointed out that the observables of the decay $B^+\to K^+\bar{K^0}$ and its charge conjugate allow us to take into account rescattering effects in constraints on the CKM angle $\gamma$ arising from $B^\pm\to\pi^\pm K$ and $B_d\to\pi^\pm K^\pm$ modes, and that they play an important role to obtain insights into final-state interactions. In this paper, the formalism needed to accomplish this task is discussed in detail. Furthermore, using a transparent model to describe the rescattering processes, as well as electroweak penguins, we calculate the quantities parametrizing the $B^+\to\pi^+ K^0$ and $B_d^0\to\pi^- K^+$ decay amplitudes for specific examples, and illustrate the constraints on $\gamma$ arising from the corresponding observables. Although this model is very crude, it shows nicely the power of $B^\pm\to K^\pm K$ both to include the rescattering effects in the bounds on $\gamma$ and to obtain insights into final-state interactions. Moreover this model exhibits the interesting feature that the combined branching ratio BR$(B^\pm\to K^\pm K)$ may be considerably enhanced through rescattering processes, as was recently pointed out within a general framework.