Measurement of Branching Fractions and CP-Violating Asymmetries in B<sup>0</sup> → K<sup>0</sup>$\bar{K}$<sup>0</sup> and B<sup>+</sup> to $\bar{K}$<sup>0</sup>K<sup>+</sup> Decays at the BaBar Experiment

Abstract

Over the last few years, the B factories have established the Cabbibo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mechanism of CP violation in the Standard Model through the study of the decays of B mesons. The focus of Belle and BaBar has now expanded to the search for signatures of new physics beyond the Standard Model, particularly through examination of flavor-changing neutral-current transitions, which proceed through diagrams involving virtual loops. These decays are suppressed in the Standard Model, increasing sensitivity to new-physics effects but decreasing branching fractions. Exploiting large and growing datasets, BaBar and Belle have made many measurements in loop decays where a b quark transitions to an s quark, observing hints of possible deviations from Standard Model expectations in CP-violating measurements.