The current and impending theoretical interest in electroweak penguins in B decays

by Ahmed ALI (DESY)

Friday 22 Nov 2002, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Zurich

60/6-002 (CERN)

We review some selected rare B decays involving electroweak penguins. These include the radiative decays B \to (X_s,K^*,\rho )\gamma and the semileptonic decays B \to (X_s,K,K^*) \ell^+ \ell^- (\ell =e,\mu)  for which new data from the BABAR and BELLE collaborations were presented this summer. These decays have also received a great deal of theoretical attention. We show that the standard model is in agreement with the current measurements within theoretical and experimental errors and we quantify the impact of the current measurements on the CKM phenomenology. We also discuss possible effects of supersymmetry in decay rates, distributions and asymmetries in these and related decays.  Their detection requires precise measurements, expected to be carried out at the B factories, Tevatron and LHC. We illustrate this using some currently popular examples.