This 2nd edition is an extensive update of "B Decays?. The revisions are necessary because of the extensive amount of new data and new theoretical ideas. This book reviews what is known about b-quark decays and also looks at what can be learned in the future.The importance of this research area is increasing, as evidenced by the approval of the luminosity upgrade for CESR and the asymmetric B factories at SLAC and KEK, and the possibility of experiments at hadron colliders.The key experimental observations made thus far, measurement of the lifetimes of the different B species, B0-B0 mixing, the discovery of ?Penguin? mediated decays, and the extraction of the CKM matrix elements Vub and Vcb from semileptonic decays, as well as more mundane results, are described in great detail by the experimentalists who have been closely involved with making the measurements. Theoretical progress in understanding b-quark decays using HQET and lattice gauge techniques are described by theorists who have developed and used these techniques.Synthesizing the experimental and theoretical information, several articles discuss the implications for the ?Standard Model? and how further tests can be done using measurements of CP violation in the B system.

The authors report the measurement of the branching fractions of the rare decays B° → D{sub s}{sup (*)+}?−, B° → D{sub s}{sup (*)+}?−, and B° → D{sub s}{sup (*)-} K{sup (*)+} in a sample of 381 x 106?(4S) decays into B{bar B} pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy ee− storage ring. They present evidence for the decay B° → D{sub s}− K*+ and the vector-vector decays B° → D{sub s}{sup *+}?− and B° → D{sub s}{sup *-} K{sup *+}, as well as the first measurement of the vector meson polarization in these decays. They also determine the ratios of the CM-suppressed to CKM-favored amplitudes r(D{sup (*)}?) and r(D{sup (*)}?) in decays B° → D{sup (*)}{sup {+-}}?{sup {-+}} and B° → D{sup (*)}{sup {+-}}?{sup {-+}}, and comment on the prospects for measuring the Cp observable sin(2? +?).

We present measurements of the flavor-changing neutral current decays B {yields} K{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -} and B {yields} K*{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -}, where {ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -} is either an e{sup +}e{sup -} or {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} pair. The data sample comprises 229 x 10{sup 6} {Upsilon}(4S) {yields} B{bar B} decays collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e{sup +}e{sup -} storage ring. Flavor-changing neutral current decays are highly suppressed in the Standard Model and their predicted properties could be significantly modified by new physics at the electroweak scale. We measure the branching fractions {Beta}(B {yields} K{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -}) = (0.34 {+-} 0.07 {+-} 0.02) x 10{sup -6}, {Beta}(B {yields} K*{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -}) = (0.78{sub -0.17}{sup +0.19} {+-} 0.11) x 10{sup -6}, the direct CP asymmetries of these decays, and the relative abundances of decays to electrons and muons. For two regions in {ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -} mass, above and below m{sub J/{psi}}, we measure partial branching fractions and the forward-backward angular asymmetry of the lepton pair. In these same regions we also measure the K* longitudinal polarization in B {yields} K*{ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -} decays. Upper limits are obtained for the lepton flavor-violating decays B {yields} Ke{mu} and B {yields} K*e{mu}. All measurements are consistent with Standard Model expectations.

This thesis presents an exclusive measurement of the branching fraction B for the rare charmless hadronic B decays to [pi]K final states. A sample of 22.57±0.36 million BB pairs was collected with the BaBar detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's PEP-II B Factory, during the Run 1 data taking period (1999-2000).

This thesis presents an exclusive measurement of the branching fraction B for the rare charmless hadronic B decays to ?K final states. A sample of 22.57±0.36 million BB pairs was collected with the BaBar detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's PEP-II B Factory, during the Run 1 data taking period (1999-2000).