We combine all the available experimental information on Bs mixing, including the very recent tagged analyses of Bs to J/Psi phi by the CDF and D0 collaborations. We find that the phase of the Bs mixing amplitude deviates more than 3 sigma from the S
tandard Model prediction. While no single measurement has a 3 sigma significance yet, all the constraints show a remarkable agreement with the combined result. This is a first evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model. This result disfavours New Physics models with Minimal Flavour Violation with the same significance.
We present an update of the Unitarity Triangle (UT) analysis, within the Standard Model (SM) and beyond. Within the SM the main novelties are the inclusion in epsilon_K of the contributions of xi and phi_epsilon eq pi/4 pointed out by A.J. Buras and
D. Guadagnoli, and an accurate prediction of BR(B -> tau nu), by using the indirect determination of |V_ub| from the UT fit, which can be compared to the present experimental result. In the generalization of the UT analysis to investigate New Physics (NP) effects, the estimate of xi is more delicate and only the effect of phi_epsilon eq pi/4 has been included. We confirm an hint of NP in the B_s-bar B_s mixing at the 2.9 sigma level, which makes a comparison with new experimental data certainly desired.
The recently measured B -> tau nu branching ratio allows to test the Standard Model by probing virtual effects of new heavy particles, such as a charged Higgs boson. The accuracy of the test is currently limited by the experimental error on BR(B -> t
au nu) and by the uncertainty on the parameters fB and |Vub|. The redundancy of the Unitarity Triangle fit allows to reduce the error on these parameters and thus to perform a more precise test of the Standard Model. Using the current experimental inputs, we obtain BR(B -> tau nu)_SM = (0.84 +- 0.11)x10^{-4}, to be compared with BR(B -> tau nu)_exp = (1.73 +- 0.34)x10^{-4}. The Standard Model prediction can be modified by New Physics effects in the decay amplitude as well as in the Unitarity Triangle fit. We discuss how to disentangle the two possible contributions in the case of minimal flavour violation at large tan beta and generic loop-mediated New Physics. We also consider two specific models with minimal flavour violation: the Type-II Two Higgs Doublet Model and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model.
We propose a method to quantify the Standard Model uncertainty in B to K pi decays using the experimental data, assuming that power counting provides a reasonable estimate of the subleading terms in the 1/mb expansion. Using this method, we show that
present B to K pi data are compatible with the Standard Model. We analyze the pattern of subleading terms required to reproduce the B to K pi data and argue that anomalously large subleading terms are not needed. Finally, we find that S(KS pi0) is fairly insensitive to hadronic uncertainties and obtain the Standard Model estimate S(KS pi0)=0.74 +- 0.04.
We update the constraints on new-physics contributions to Delta F=2 processes from the generalized unitarity triangle analysis, including the most recent experimental developments. Based on these constraints, we derive upper bounds on the coefficient
s of the most general Delta F=2 effective Hamiltonian. These upper bounds can be translated into lower bounds on the scale of new physics that contributes to these low-energy effective interactions. We point out that, due to the enhancement in the renormalization group evolution and in the matrix elements, the coefficients of non-standard operators are much more constrained than the coefficient of the operator present in the Standard Model. Therefore, the scale of new physics in models that generate new Delta F=2 operators, such as next-to-minimal flavour violation, has to be much higher than the scale of minimal flavour violation, and it most probably lies beyond the reach of direct searches at the LHC.
