Dalitz plot analysis of the decay B± → K±K±K∓

Abstract

We analyze the three-body charmless decay B ± → K ± K ± K ∓ using a sample of 226.0 ± 2.5 million B ¯¯¯ B pairs collected by the BABAR detector. We measure the total branching fraction and C P asymmetry to be B = ( 35.2 ± 0.9 ± 1.6 ) × 10 − 6 and A C P = ( − 1.7 ± 2.6 ± 1.5 ) % . We fit the Dalitz plot distribution using an isobar model and measure the magnitudes and phases of the decay coefficients. We find no evidence of C P violation for the individual components of the isobar model. The decay dynamics is dominated by the K + K − S -wave, for which we perform a partial-wave analysis in the region m ( K + K − ) < 2 GeV / c 2 . Significant production of the f 0 ( 980 ) resonance, and of a spin zero state near 1.55 GeV / c 2 are required in the isobar model description of the data. The partial-wave analysis supports this observation.