Determination of the Weak Phase gamma from Rate Measurements in B^+- -> pi K, pi pi Decays

Abstract

A method is described which, under the assumption of SU(3) symmetry, allows one to determine the angle gamma=Arg(Vub^*) of the unitarity triangle from time-independent measurements of the branching ratios for the decays B^+ -> pi^0 K^+ and B^- -> pi^0 K^-, as well as of the CP-averaged branching ratios for the decays B^+- -> pi^+- K^0 and B^+- -> pi^+- pi^0. The effects of electroweak penguin operators are included in a model-independent way, and SU(3)-breaking corrections are accounted for in the factorization approximation.

minor revisions, version to be published in Phys. Rev. Letters