S-waves and the Measurement of CP Violating Phases in Bs Decays

Sheldon Stone, Liming Zhang

Published 2008-12-15, updated 2009-04-01Version 4

Heavy, as yet undiscovered particles, can affect measurements of CP violation in the B system. Measuring CP violation in the Bs system provides an excellent place to observe such effects since Standard Model sources are predicted to produce very small effects. The angle -2beta_s, the "phase of Bs-\bar{B}s mixing," thought to be best measured in Bs -> J/psi\phi decays is of order -0.04, while the CP violating asymmetry in Bs -> \phi\phi is predicted to be zero, due to the cancellation of the mixing phase with the decay phase. Recent measurements of \beta_s in J/psi\phi, while not definitive, are much larger than the Standard Model predictions. Measurements in the B^o and Ds+ systems of analogous modes point toward a 5-10% contamination of S-wave K+K- under the \phi peak. This S-wave was not taken into account in these recent analyses. Furthermore this S-wave can also materialize as a f0(980) meson that decays to \pi+\pi-, making the final state J/psi f0 useful for measuring \beta_s with the added advantage of not requiring an angular analysis. Rate estimates, while not precise, predict four to five times fewer such events than those in the J/psi\phi mode. The error on \beta_s, however, may be similar. We also remark on S-wave problems with the Bs -> \phi\phi mode, and possible systematic checks using Bs -> \phi f0.