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.

Direct CP violation can exist in untagged, neutral B-meson decays to certain self-conjugate, hadronic final states. As a necessary condition, the resonances which appear therein must permit the identification of distinct, CP-conjugate states--in analogy to stereochemistry, we term such states ''CP-enantiomers.'' These states permit the construction of CP-even and CP-odd amplitude combinations and of observables sensitive to their interference, which are non-zero if direct CP violation is present. The decay B[yields][pi][sup+][pi][sup -][pi][sup 0], containing the distinct CP-conjugate states[rho][sup+][pi][sup -] and[rho][sup -][pi][sup+], provides one such example of a CP-enantiomeric pair. We illustrate the possibilities in various multi-particle final states.

I present the results of searches for B meson decays into two charmless mesons. I take into account final states made up of two pseudo-scalar (PP) or one pseudo-scalar and one vector (PV). The measurements use the data samples collected and analyzed by the B-factory experiments at the [Upsilon](4S) resonance energy: BABAR, Belle and CLEO.

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)."

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.

This book offers the first strong evidence of the existence of CP violation in neutral B decays extracted from sophisticated B factories in the US and Japan. It also holds out the expectation of rare B decays and D, K physics in the near future. In addition, new physics beyond the Standard Model is described. Both experimental and theoretical points of view are given.