Weak annihilation and new physics in charmless $B \to M M$ decays

Abstract

We use currently available data of nonleptonic charmless 2-body $B\to MM$ decays ($MM = PP, PV, VV$) that are mediated by $b\to (d, s)$ QCD- and QED-penguin operators to study weak annihilation and new-physics effects in the framework of QCD factorization. In particular we introduce one weak annihilation parameter for decays related by ($u \leftrightarrow d$) quark interchange and test this universality assumption. Within the standard model, the data supports this assumption with the only exceptions in the $B\to K \pi$ system, which exhibits the well-known "$\Delta A_{CP}$ puzzle", and some tensions in $B \to K^* \phi$. Beyond the standard model, we simultaneously determine weak-annihilation and new-physics parameters from data, employing model-independent scenarios that address the "$\Delta A_{CP}$ puzzle", such as QED-penguins and $b\to s \bar{u}u$ current-current operators. We discuss also possibilities that allow further tests of our assumption once improved measurements from LHCb and Belle II become available.