A Systematic Analysis of the Exclusive B -> K^* l^+ l^- Decay

Abstract

A model-independent analysis for the exclusive, rare B -> K^* l^+ l^- decay is presented. Systematically studied are the experimentally measured quantities, such as, branching ratio, forward-backward asymmetry, longitudinal polarization of the final leptons, and the ratio $\Gamma_L/\Gamma_T$ of the decay widths when $K^\ast$ meson is longitudinally and transversally polarized. The dependence of the asymmetry parameter $\alpha = 2 \Gamma_L/\Gamma_T -1$ on the new Wilson coefficients is also studied in detail. It is found that the afore-mentioned physical observables are quite sensitive to the new Wilson coefficients. Therefore, once we have the experimental data with high statistics and a deviation from the Standard Model, we can interpret the source of such discrepancy.