Measurement of the Direct CP Asymmetry in b -> s gamma Decays

We describe a measurement of the direct CP asymmetry between inclusive b -> s gamma and bbar -> sbar gamma decays. This asymmetry is expected to be less than 0.01 in the Standard Model, but could be enhanced up to about 0.10 by new physics contributions. We use a sample of 89 million BB pairs recorded with the BaBar detector at PEP-II, from which we reconstruct a set of 12 exclusive b -> s gamma final states containing one charged or neutral kaon and one to three pions. We measure an asymmetry of A_CP(b -> s gamma) = 0.025 +/- 0.050(stat.) +/- 0.015(syst.), corresponding to an allowed range of -0.06 < A_CP(b -> s gamma) < +0.11 at 90% confidence level.