This thesis presents studies of CP violation in the decays B0--> K+K-Ks, B+--> K+K-K+, and B+--> KsKsK+, using a Dalitz plot amplitude analysis. These studies are based on data from the BaBar experiment at PEP-II at SLAC. Among the significant results are the world's most precise measurements of time-dependent CP-violation in B0--> phi Ks and direct CP violation in B+--> phi K+. The latter is measured to deviate from zero by 2.8 standard deviations, in tension with the Standard Model expectation. We also study the resonant and nonresonant substructure of B--> KKK decays, and find evidence against the previously hypothesized resonance dubbed the "fX(1500)."

The Standard Model (SM) explains CP violation in terms of the CKM matrix. The BABAR experiment was designed mainly to test the CKM model in B decays. B decays that proceed through b → s loop diagrams, of which B → KKK decays are an example, are sensitive to new physics effects that could lead to deviations from the CKM predictions for CP violation. We present studies of CP violation in the decays B+ → K+K-K+, B+ → KS0KS0K+, and B0 → K+K-KS0, using a Dalitz plot amplitude analysis. These studies are based on approximately 470 million B$\bar{B}$ decays collected by BABAR at the PEP-II collider at SLAC. We perform measurements of time-dependent CP violation in B0 → K+K-KS0, including B0 → [Phi]KS0. We measure a CP-violating phase [beta]eff ([Phi]KS0) = 0.36 ± 0.11 ± 0.04 rad., in agreement with the SM. This is the world's most precise measurement of this quantity. We also measure direct CP asymmetries in all three decay modes, including the direct CP asymmetry ACP ([Phi]K+) = (12.8 ± 4.4 ± 1.3)%, which is 2.8 sigma away from zero. This measurement is in tension with the SM, which predicts an asymmetry of a few percent. We also study the resonant and nonresonant features in the B → KKK Dalitz plots. We find that the hypothetical scalar fX(1500) resonance, introduced by prior analyses to explain an unknown peak in the mKK spectrum, cannot adequately describe the data. We conclude instead that the fX(1500) can be explained as the sum of the f0(1500), f'2(1525), and f0(1710) resonances, removing the need for the hypothetical fX(1500). We also find that an exponential nonresonant model, used by previous analyses to describe the broad nonresonant feature seen in B → KKK decays, cannot fully model the data. We introduce a new nonresonant model that contains more free parameters, allows for phase motion, and contains both S-wave and P-wave components.

http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/0496

This thesis describes a high-quality, high-precision method for the data analysis of an interesting elementary particle reaction. The data was collected at the Japanese B-meson factory KEKB with the Belle detector, one of the most successful large-scale experiments worldwide. CP violation is a subtle quantum effect that makes the world look different when simultaneously left and right and matter and antimatter are exchanged. This being a prerequisite for our own world to have developed from the big bang, there are only a few experimental indications of such effects, and their detection requires very intricate techniques. The discovery of CP violation in B meson decays garnered Kobayashi and Maskawa, who had predicted these findings as early as 1973, the 2008 Nobel prize in physics. This thesis describes in great detail what are by far the best measurements of branching ratios and CP violation parameters in two special reactions with two charm mesons in the final state. It presents an in-depth but accessible overview of the theory, phenomenology, experimental setup, data collection, Monte Carlo simulations, (blind) statistical data analysis, and systematic uncertainty studies.

This book highlights two essential analyses of data collected during the LHCb experiment, based on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The first comprises the first observation and studies of matter-antimatter asymmetries in two three-body b-baryon decays, paving the way for more precise measurements of the relatively unknown decay properties of b-baryon decays. The second is an analysis of a charged B meson decay to three charged pions, where previously large matter-antimatter asymmetries were observed in a model-independent analysis. Here a model of the decay amplitude is constructed using the unitarity-conserving ‘K-matrix’ model for the scalar contributions, so as to gain an understanding of how the previously observed matter-antimatter asymmetries arise; further, the model’s construction yields the most precise and comprehensive study of this decay mode to date.