The Riddle of Polarization in \(B \to VV\) Transitions

Abstract

Measurements of polarization fractions in \(B \to VV\) transitions, with \(V\) a light vector meson, show that the longitudinal amplitude dominates in \(B^0 \to \rho^+ \rho^-\), \(B^+ \to \rho^+ \rho^0\), and \(B^+ \to \rho^0 K^{*+}\) decays and not in the penguin induced decays \(B^0 \to \phi K^{*0}\), \(B^+ \to \phi K^{*+}\). We study the effect of rescattering mediated by charmed resonances, finding that in \(B \to \phi K^*\) it can be responsible of the suppression of the longitudinal amplitude. For the decay \(B \to \rho K^*\) we find that the longitudinal fraction cannot be too large without invoking new effects.