# Discrete Ambiguities in the Measurement of the Weak Phase 𝛾

## I Discrete Ambiguities

Direct CP-violation within the standard model takes place when two or more amplitudes with different CKM phases interfere in a time-independent manner. As an example, take the decay of a $`B^+`$ meson to a final state $`f^+`$, which can proceed through two amplitudes. The partial decay widths can be written as

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(B^\pm f^\pm )=A_1^2+A_2^2+2A_1A_2\mathrm{cos}(\delta \pm \varphi ),$$
(1)   
where $`A_1`$ and $`A_2`$ are the magnitudes of the interfering amplitudes, $`\varphi `$ is the CKM phase difference between the amplitudes, and $`\delta `$ is the CP-conserving phase difference. CP-violation is often considered in terms of a non-vanishing CP-asymmetry,

$$𝒜=\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(B^+f^+)\mathrm{\Gamma }(B^{}f^{})}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(B^+f^+)+\mathrm{\Gamma }(B^{}f^{})}=\frac{2R\mathrm{sin}\delta \mathrm{sin}\varphi }{1+R^2+2R\mathrm{cos}\delta \mathrm{cos}\varphi },$$
(2)   
where $`R=A_2/A_1`$. It is clear that $`𝒜`$ gives a determination of $`\gamma `$ which has a 4-fold ambiguity, due to its invariance under the two symmetry operations

$`S_{\mathrm{sign}}`$ $`:`$ $`\gamma \gamma ,\delta _B\delta _B`$ (3)   
$`S_{\mathrm{exchange}}`$ $`:`$ $`\gamma \delta _B.`$ (4)   
These ambiguities were also noted in methods which do not rely on a decay rate asymmetry .

The $`S_{\mathrm{sign}}`$ ambiguity is generally considered unphysical, since application of $`S_{\mathrm{sign}}`$ to $`\gamma `$ values within the currently allowed range ,

$$g\{40^{}\gamma 100^{}\},$$
(5)   
yields values which are not within $`g`$, and are therefore inconsistent with the standard model. We note, however, a third symmetry of Equation (1, which makes the ambiguity 8-fold:

$$S_\pi :\gamma \gamma +\pi ,\delta _B\delta _B\pi .$$
(6)   
This symmetry has so far been overlooked, perhaps because it does not appear to be a symmetry of $`𝒜`$

The significance of $`S_\pi `$ arises from the fact that while $`S_\pi `$ and $`S_{\mathrm{sign}}`$ may be unphysical within the standard model, the operation $`S_\pi S_{\mathrm{sign}}`$, applied to $`\gamma g`$, results in values which are in or close to $`g`$. Thus, given the finite sensitivity of future experiments, it may be impossible to deem $`S_\pi S_{\mathrm{sign}}`$ unphysical, hampering the ability to test the standard model using such measurements of $`\gamma `$.

In some $`\gamma `$ measurement methods, there is no a-priori knowledge of the magnitudes of some of the interfering amplitudes. These magnitudes are then obtained simultaneously wth $`\gamma `$. In this case, additional “accidental” ambiguities will exist if more than one magnitude value is consistent with the data. An example is given below.

## II Quantitative Experimental Implications

$`BDK`$ decays, recently observed by CLEO , provide several ways to measure the weak phase $`\gamma =\mathrm{arg}(V_{ud}V_{ub}^{}/V_{cd}V_{cb}^{})`$. Since non-standard model effects are expected to be small in such decays, comparing these measurements with experiments which are more sensitive to new physics may be used to test the standard model . Gronau and Wyler (GW)  have proposed to measure $`\gamma `$ in the interference between the $`\overline{b}\overline{c}u\overline{s}`$ decay $`B^+\overline{D}^0K^+`$ and the color-suppressed, $`\overline{b}\overline{u}c\overline{s}`$ decay $`B^+D^0K^+`$. Interference occurs when the $`D`$ is observed as one of the CP-eigenstates $`D_{1,2}^0\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(D^0\pm \overline{D}^0\right)`$, which are identified by their decay products. The interference amplitude is

$$\sqrt{2}A(B^+\overline{D}_{1,2}^0K^+)=\sqrt{(B^+D^0K^+)}e^{i(\delta _B+\gamma )}\pm \sqrt{(B^+\overline{D}^0K^+)},$$
(7)   
where $`\delta _B`$ is a CP-conserving phase. The value of $`\gamma `$ is extracted from this triangle relation and its CP-conjugate, disregarding direct CP-violation in $`D^0`$ decays . Several variations of the method have been developed.

In practice, measuring the branching fraction $`(B^+D^0K^+)`$ requires that the $`D^0`$ be identified in a hadronic final state, $`f=K^{}\pi ^+(n\pi )^0`$, since full reconstruction is impossible in semileptonic decays, resulting in unacceptably high background. Atwood, Dunietz and Soni (ADS)  pointed out that the decay chain $`B^+D^0K^+`$, $`D^0f`$ results in the same final state as $`B^+\overline{D}^0K^+`$, $`\overline{D}^0f`$, where the $`\overline{D}^0`$ undergoes doubly Cabibbo suppressed decay. Estimating the ratio between the interfering decay chains, one obtains 

$`\left|{\displaystyle \frac{A(B^+\overline{D}^0K^+)A(\overline{D}^0f)}{A(B^+D^0K^+)A(D^0f)}}\right|`$ $``$ $`\left|{\displaystyle \frac{V_{cb}^{}}{V_{ub}^{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{V_{us}}{V_{cs}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_1}{a_2}}\right|\sqrt{{\displaystyle \frac{(\overline{D}^0f)}{(D^0f)}}}0.6.`$ (8)   
The numerical value in Equation (8) was obtained using $`|V_{cb}^{}/V_{ub}^{}|=1/0.08`$ , $`|V_{us}/V_{cs}|=0.22`$, $`|a_1/a_2|=1/0.26`$ , and

$$\frac{(\overline{D}^0f)}{(D^0f)}=0.0031,$$
(9)   
which is the ratio measured for $`f=K^{}\pi ^+`$ . Equation (8) implies that sizable interference makes it practically impossible to measure $`(B^+D^0K^+)`$, and the GW method fails.

ADS proposed to use the interference of Equation (8) to obtain $`\gamma `$ from the decay rate asymmetries in $`B^+f_iK^+`$, where $`f_i,i=1,2,`$ are two $`D`$ final states of the type $`K^{}\pi ^+(n\pi )^0`$. Measuring the four branching fractions, $`(B^+f_iK^+)`$, $`(B^{}\overline{f}_iK^{})`$, one calculates the four unknowns $`(B^+D^0K^+)`$, $`\gamma `$, and the two CP-conserving phases associated with the two decay modes. $`(B^+\overline{D}^0K^+)`$ and the $`D^0`$ decay branching fractions will have already been measured to high precision by the time the rare decays $`B^+fK^+`$ are observed. In addition to the similar magnitudes of the interfering amplitudes, large CP-conserving phases are known to occur in $`D`$ decays , making large decay rate asymmetries possible in this method.

Jang and Ko (JK)  and Gronau and Rosner  have developed a $`\gamma `$ measurement method similar to the GW method, but in which $`(B^+D^0K^+)`$ is not measured directly. Rather, it is essentially inferred by using the larger branching fractions of the decays $`B^0D^{}K^+`$, $`B^0\overline{D}^0K^0`$ and $`B^0D_{1,2}K^0`$, solving in principle the problem presented by Equation (8).

## III Combining the ADS and the GW Methods

Since the $`\overline{b}\overline{u}c\overline{s}`$ amplitude in $`BDK`$ is very small and hard to detect, several methods will have to be combined in order to make best use of the limited data. Quantitative estimates of the resulting gain in sensitivity are rarely conducted, since they require realistic efficiency and background estimates, and depend on specific phase values. Here we undertake this task for the case of combining the ADS and GW methods (contributions of the JK method are commented on later). In this scheme, one obtains the unknown parameters

$$\xi \{(B^+D^0K^+),\gamma ,\delta _B,\delta _D\},$$
(10)   
where $`\delta _D=\mathrm{arg}[A(D^0f)A(\overline{D}^0f)^{}]`$, by minimizing the function

$$\chi ^2(\xi )=\left(\frac{a(\xi )a_m}{\mathrm{\Delta }a_m}\right)^2+\left(\frac{\overline{a}(\xi )\overline{a}_m}{\mathrm{\Delta }\overline{a}_m}\right)^2+\left(\frac{b(\xi )b_m}{\mathrm{\Delta }b_m}\right)^2+\left(\frac{\overline{b}(\xi )\overline{b}_m}{\mathrm{\Delta }\overline{b}_m}\right)^2$$
(11)   
with respect to the parameters $`\xi `$. In Equation (11) we use the symbols

$`a_m`$ $``$ $`(B^+fK^+)`$ (12)   
$`b_m`$ $``$ $`(B^+D_{1,2}^0K^+)`$ (13)   
to denote the experimentally measured decay rates of interest, and 

$`a(\xi )`$ $``$ $`\left|\sqrt{(B^+\overline{D}^0K^+)(\overline{D}^0f)}+\sqrt{(B^+D^0K^+)(D^0f)}e^{i(\delta _D+\delta _B+\gamma )}\right|^2`$ (14)   
$`b(\xi )`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left|\pm \sqrt{(B^+\overline{D}^0K^+)}+\sqrt{(B^+D^0K^+)}e^{i(\delta _B+\gamma )}\right|^2`$ (15)   
to denote the corresponding theoretical quantities. $`\overline{a}_m`$, $`\overline{b}_m`$, $`\overline{a}(\xi )`$ and $`\overline{b}(\xi )`$ are the CP-conjugates of $`a_m`$, $`b_m`$, $`a(\xi )`$ and $`b(\xi )`$, respectively. $`\mathrm{\Delta }x_m`$ represents the experimental error in the measurement of the quantity $`x_m`$.

Several gains over the individual methods are immediately apparent: In the ADS method, a $`D`$ decay mode is “wasted” on measuring the uninteresting CP-conserving phases. By contrast, when combining the methods, knowledge of $`a_m`$, $`b_m`$, $`\overline{a}_m`$ and $`\overline{b}_m`$ in a single mode is in principle enough to determine the four unknowns, $`\xi `$, even if $`\delta _D=\delta _B=0`$. In practice, adding the $`D_{1,2}^0`$ modes will decrease the statistical error of the measurement. In both the GW and the ADS methods, the ability to resolve the $`S_{\mathrm{exchange}}`$ ambiguity depends on the degree to which $`\delta _B`$ varies from one $`B^+`$ decay mode to the other. Experimental limits on CP-conserving phases in $`BD\pi `$, $`D^{}\pi `$, $`D\rho `$ and $`D^{}\rho `$  suggest that $`\delta _B`$ may be small, making the $`S_{\mathrm{exchange}}`$ resolution difficult. When combining the methods, however, we note that $`b(\xi )`$ and $`\overline{b}(\xi )`$ are invariant under $`\gamma \delta _B`$, whereas $`a(\xi )`$ and $`\overline{a}(\xi )`$ are invariant under $`\gamma \delta _B+\delta _D`$. The $`S_{\mathrm{exchange}}`$ ambiguity is thus resolved in a single $`B^+`$ and $`D`$ decay mode in which $`\delta _D`$ is far enough from 0 or $`\pi `$.

## IV Signal and Background Estimates

We proceed to estimate the sensitivity of the $`\gamma `$ measurement combining the ADS and GW methods, at a future, symmetric $`e^+e^{}`$ $`B`$-factory, operating at the $`\mathrm{{\rm Y}}`$(4S) resonance. The detector configuration is taken to be similar to that of CLEO-III. The integrated luminosity is $`600\mathrm{fb}^1`$, corresponding to three years of running at the full luminosity of $`3\times 10^{34}`$ cm<sup>-2</sup> s<sup>-1</sup> with an effective duty factor of 20%.

Crucial to evaluating the measurement sensitivity is a reasonably realistic estimate of the background rate in the measurement of $`a_m`$, whose statistical error dominates the $`\gamma `$ measurement error, $`\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma `$. We estimated the background by applying reconstruction criteria to Monte Carlo events generated using the full, GEANT-based CLEO-II detector simulation. The event sample consisted of about $`19\times 10^6`$ $`e^+e^{}B\overline{B}`$ events and $`14\times 10^6`$ continuum $`e^+e^{}q\overline{q}`$ events, where $`q`$ stands for a non-$`b`$ quark. Since the full simulation did not include a silicon vertex detector or C̆erenkov particle identification system, these systems were simulated using simple Gaussian smearing. The C̆erenkov detector was taken to cover the polar region $`|\mathrm{cos}\theta |<0.71`$.

$`D^0`$ candidates (reference to the charge conjugate modes is implied) were reconstructed in the final states $`K^{}\pi ^+`$, $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$, and $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$. The $`\pi ^0`$ and $`D^0`$ candidate invariant masses were required to be within $`2.5`$ standard deviations ($`\sigma `$) of their nominal values. A Dalitz plot cut was applied in the $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$ mode to suppress combinatoric background. The $`B^+`$ candidate energy was required to be within $`2.5\sigma `$ of the beam energy. The beam-constrained mass, $`\sqrt{E_b^2P_B^2}`$, where $`E_b`$ is the beam energy and $`P_B`$ is the momentum of the $`B^+`$ candidate, was required to be within $`2.5\sigma `$ of the nominal $`B^+`$ mass. Since the $`K^+`$ and the $`D^0`$ fly back-to-back, all charged daughters of the $`B^+`$ candidate were required to be consistent with originating from the same vertex point. Continuum background was suppressed by applying cuts on the cosine of the angle between the the sphericity axis of the $`B^+`$ candidate and that of the rest of the event, and on the output of a Fischer discriminant . In background events, the reconstructed $`K^+`$ and $`K^{}`$ come from two different $`D`$ mesons, or are due to $`s\overline{s}`$ popping, while signal events often contain a third kaon, originating from the other $`B`$ meson in the event. As a result, 90% of the background events are rejected by requiring that an additional $`K^{}`$ or $`K_S`$ be found in the event and be inconsistent with originating from the $`B^+`$ candidate vertex.

With the above event selection criteria, we find that continuum events account for over 80% of the remaining background, with a rate of 7 events per $`10^8`$ charged $`B`$ mesons produced. This is comparable to the expected signal yield. Under such low signal, high background conditions, significant improvement is obtained by conducting a multi-variable maximum likelihood fit. In this technique, cuts on the continuous variables are greatly loosened, and the separation of signal from background is achieved by use of a probability density function, which describes the distribution of the data in these variables. As has been the case in several CLEO analyses of rare $`B`$ decays, we assume that the effective background level in the likelihood analysis, $`B`$, as inferred from the signal statistical error, $`\mathrm{\Delta }S=\sqrt{S+B}`$, will be similar to the level obtained with the Monte Carlo simulation. Signal efficiency will increase, however, due to the looser selection criteria.

The expected number of $`B^+fK^+`$ signal events is

$$N_a=N_{B^+}a(\xi )ϵ(K^+f),$$
(16)   
where $`N_{B^+}`$ is the number of $`B^+`$ mesons produced, and $`ϵ(K^+f)`$ is the probability that the final state be detected and pass the loosened selection criteria of the likelihood analysis. For given values of $`\delta _D`$, $`\delta _B`$ and $`\gamma `$, we calculate $`a(\xi )`$ using the $`D^0K^{}\pi ^+,K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0,K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$ branching fractions from , Equation (9), $`(B^+\overline{D}^0K^+)=2.57\times 10^4`$ , and $`(B^+D^0K^+)=2.3\times 10^6`$ (obtained from $`(B^+\overline{D}^0K^+)`$ and the values used in Equation (8)).

To estimate the efficiency $`ϵ(K^+f)`$, we start with the values in , 44% for the $`K^{}\pi ^+`$ mode, 17% for the $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$ mode, and 22% for the $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$ mode. These are multiplied by the efficiency of finding the third kaon (45%), and the particle-ID efficiency (68%). The particle-ID efficiency is composed of the probability that a well-reconstructed $`K^+`$ be in the particle-ID system’s fiducial region (83%), and that half the $`K^{}`$ daughters of the $`D`$ meson also be in the fiducial region. The momentum of the other half allows good identification using specific ionization, as does the momentum of the third kaon in most events. An additional efficiency loss of 10% is assumed due to non-Gaussian tails, C̆erenkov ring overlaps, etc. The final efficiencies are 13% for the $`K^{}\pi ^+`$ mode, 5% for the $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^0`$ mode, and 7% for the $`K^{}\pi ^+\pi ^{}\pi ^+`$ mode.

Since $`b_ma_m`$, suppression and accurate knowledge of the background in the measurement of $`b_m`$ is much less critical. Starting from the continuum background level in  and applying vertex and particle-ID criteria, we arrive at a rate of 60 background events per $`10^8`$ charged $`B`$ mesons. The number of signal events observed in this channel is

$$N_b=N_{B^+}b(\xi )ϵ(K^+)\underset{i}{}(D^0c_i)ϵ(c_i),$$
(17)   
where $`ϵ(K^+)`$ is the efficiency for detecting the $`K^+`$ with the particle-ID criteria described above, and $`c_i`$ are CP-eigenstate decay products of $`D_{1,2}`$. Using Table I, we obtain $`_i(D^0c_i)ϵ(c_i)=0.011`$.

## V Measurement Sensitivity

To estimate the measurement sensitivity for given values of the “true” parameters $`\xi =\xi ^0`$, we compute the average numbers of observed signal events using Equations (16) and (17). An integrated luminosity of $`600\mathrm{fb}^1`$ yields $`N_{B^+}=640\times 10^6`$. We assume that statistics will effectively triple if, in addition to $`B^+D^0K^+`$, one uses the modes $`B^+D^0K^+`$, $`B^+D^0K^+`$, $`B^+D^0K^+`$, $`\overline{B}^0D^0K^0`$ and $`\overline{B}^0D^0K^0`$. We therefore take $`N_{B^+}=1900\times 10^6`$. The resulting $`N_a`$, $`N_b`$ and their CP-conjugates determine the experimental quantities $`a_m`$, $`b_m`$, $`\overline{a}_m`$ and $`\overline{b}_m`$ in the average experiment, ie., the experiment in which statistical fluctuations vanish. The minimization package MINUIT  is then used to find the parameters $`\xi `$, for which $`\chi ^2(\xi )`$ is minimal in this experiment. Since the measurement is expected to be statistics-limited, only statistical errors are used to evaluate $`\chi ^2(\xi )`$.

To demonstrate ambiguities, the trial value of $`\gamma `$ is stepped between $`180^{}`$ and $`180^{}`$, and $`\delta _D`$, $`\delta _B`$ and $`(B^+D^0K^+)`$ are varied by MINUIT so as to minimize $`\chi ^2(\xi )`$. Such $`\gamma `$ scans are shown in Figure 1 for cases of particular interest. Evident from these scans is the fact that a large $`^2\chi ^2(\xi )/\gamma ^2`$ at the input value $`\gamma =\gamma ^0`$ does not guarantee that $`\chi ^2(\xi )`$ will obtain large values before dipping into a nearby ambiguity point. As a result, the quantity that meaningfully represents the measurement sensitivity is not $`\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma `$, but $`f_{\mathrm{exc}}`$, the fraction of $`g`$ which is excluded by the $`BDK`$ measurement, ie., for which $`\chi ^2(\xi )>10`$. The larger the value of $`f_{\mathrm{exc}}`$, the greater the a-priori likelihood that predictions of $`\gamma `$ based on new physics-sensitive experiments will be inconsistent with the $`BDK`$ measurement, leading to the detection of new physics.

To evaluate $`f_{\mathrm{exc}}`$, 540 Monte Carlo experiments were generated, using randomly selected input values in the range $`\gamma ^0g`$, $`180^{}<\delta _D^0<180^{}`$, $`180^{}<\delta _B^0<180^{}`$ (Note that in reality, the CP-conserving phases will be different in the different decay modes). Depending on the input phases, the numbers of observed signal events varied between $`700<N_b<1050`$, $`0<N_a<130`$. For each set of phases, a $`\gamma `$ scan was conducted in the range $`\gamma g`$, and $`f_{\mathrm{exc}}`$ was taken to be the fraction of the area of the scan for which $`\chi ^2(\xi )>10`$.

The $`f_{\mathrm{exc}}`$ distribution of the 540 random experiments is shown in Figure 2. Also shown is the distribution of the 91 experiments for which $`|\mathrm{sin}(\delta _B)|<0.25`$. $`f_{\mathrm{exc}}`$ tends to be larger in this case, since small values of $`\chi ^2(\xi )`$ associated with the $`S_{\mathrm{exchange}}`$ ambiguity (even if the ambiguity is resolved) are pushed away from the center of $`g`$. Since the distributions of phases used in the Monte Carlo experiments cannot be expected to represent the actual phases in nature, it is not meaningful to study the $`f_{\mathrm{exc}}`$ distribution in detail. Nevertheless, Figure 2 indicates that this measurement may reduce the allowed region of $`\gamma `$ by as much as 70%.

## VI Discussion and Conclusions

We have studied in detail the measurement of $`\gamma `$ using $`BDK`$ at a symmetric $`B`$ factory. Use of this measurement to detect new physics effects is complicated by low statistics and an ambiguity which is at least 8-fold, not 4-fold as often stated. We show that combining the ADS and GW methods helps resolve the $`S_{\mathrm{exchange}}`$ ambiguity and decreases the statistical error, compared with the ADS method alone. The ambiguities associated with the $`S_{\mathrm{sign}}`$ and $`S_\pi `$ symmetries are irremovable in measurements of this kind. Even when the $`S_{\mathrm{exchange}}`$ ambiguity is in principle resolved, in practice it still deteriorates the measurement by reducing $`\chi ^2(\xi )`$ (or other experimental quantity of significance).

Being ambiguity-dominated, the sensitivity of future experiments should be evaluated in terms of the exclusion fraction $`f_{\mathrm{exc}}`$, rather than the weak phase error $`\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma `$. With a luminosity of $`600\mathrm{fb}^1`$, we find that the $`BDK`$ measurement can exclude up to about $`f_{\mathrm{exc}}0.6`$ of the currently-allowed range of $`\gamma `$.

With $`3\times 10^8`$ $`B`$ mesons, 100% efficiency and no background, JK find $`\mathrm{\Delta }\gamma `$ in their method to be between about $`5^{}`$ and $`30^{}`$ for $`40^{}<\gamma <100^{}`$. Using more realistic estimates and noting out comments above, one would conclude that combining their method with the ADS and GW methods, while probably useful for the actual experiment, will not result in a dramatic change in the predictions of our analysis.

## VII Acknowledgments

I am grateful to my colleagues at the CLEO collaboration for permitting the use of the excellent Monte Carlo sample which they have worked hard to tune and produce; to David Asner and Jeff Gronberg for sharing their knowledge of the performance of the CLEO silicon vertex detector; and to Michael Gronau and Yuval Grossman for discussions and useful suggestions. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under contracts DE-AC03-76SF00515 and DE-FG03-93ER40788, and by the National Science Foundation.