CP Violation in $B_{(s)}\to\phi K$ Decays: Standard Model Benchmarks and Isospin-Breaking New Physics

Abstract

The penguin loop-suppressed $B\to\phi K$ decays are highly sensitive to contributions of hypothetical heavy new particles. Particularly interesting probes for testing the Standard Model and revealing such phenomena are provided by CP violation in the $B^0_d\to\phi K_{\rm S}$ decay. Standard-Model estimates for the corresponding CP-violating observables are theoretically limited by doubly Cabibbo-suppressed penguin contributions. We study these effects using a factorization approach, and provide predictions for CP asymmetries, to be contrasted with future measurements. To gain additional insight into these hadronic effects, we propose the $B_s^0\to\phi K_{\rm S}$ decay as a new channel. We predict the observables for this decay for which currently no measurements exist. By comparing $B^0_d\to\phi K_{\rm S}$ and $B^+ \to \phi K^+$, we further derive state-of-the-art constraints on isospin observables within the Standard Model. The same framework enables probing of possible New-Physics contributions, including general effects and those with non-trivial isospin structure. Interesting prospects arise for the high-precision era of flavour physics ahead.