This thesis presents a search for the rare B meson decay B -> pi l⁺l⁻ (l=e or mu) using 428 fb⁻¹ of data collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance by the BaBar detector at the PEP-II asymmetric energy e⁺e⁻ storage rings located located at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, California. Four exclusive modes are studied: B⁺ -> pi+ e⁺e⁻, B⁺ -> pi⁺ mu⁺mu⁻, B0 -> pi⁰ e⁺e⁻, and B0 -> pi⁰ mu⁺mu⁻. Branching fraction upper limits at the 90% confidence level are presented for the exclusive modes B⁺ -> pi⁺ mu⁺mu⁻ and B0 -> pi0 mu⁺mu⁻, and the combined mode B -> pi mu⁺mu⁻. / text

The set of decays known as B⁰ → l⁺l⁻ are exceedingly rare. This thesis details procedures developed to optimize signal extraction and improve the upper limit on the measured branching fraction. When applied to 85 million BB events collected at the Belle experiment in Tsukuba, Japan, the resulting upper limits on branching fractions were 8.8×10⁻⁸ for B⁰ → e⁺e⁻, 1.0×10⁻⁷ for B⁰ → μ⁺μ⁻, and 8.5×10⁻⁸ for B⁰ → e±μ∓" at the 90% confidence level. / Ph. D.

Results of the search for the rare decay $B_s^0 \to \mu^+ \mu^-$ using data collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider are presented. This analysis covers the full Run II data set, corresponding to approximately 10.4~fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The analysis used new variables and a multivariate technique to improve the background reduction. After seeing fewer events than expected from background, a new Tevatron best observed limit was set on the branching fraction of the decay at $\cal{B}$($B_s^0 \to \mu^+ \mu^-$) $< 15 \times 10^{-9}$ ($12 \times 10^{-9}$) at the 95\% (90\%) C.L.

In this thesis, novel corrections to B → X˦ and B → Xl+l- decays, where X is a pseudoscalar or vector meson, are presented. These are the chromomagnetic matrix element, weak annihilation in a general four-quark operator basis and a long-distance charm loop contribution. The calculation of the chromomagnetic matrix element completes the calculation of matrix elements for all relevant effective weak operators in B → V decays, removing an infrared divergence which previous computations had treated in a very approximate way. It also encounters an interesting technical obstacle not previously seen in sum rule calculations, which is likely to be encountered regularly in future once higher order loop diagrams are calculated. The potential for this term to contribute to the CP asymmetry in D → V˦ in the presence of new physics is discussed. The improved computation of weak annihilation diagrams is applied to the analysis of isospin asymmetries in radiative and semi-leptonic B → (p;K(*)) decays, and the computation of long distance charm bubble terms is applied to produce an improved prediction for time-dependent CP asymmetries in various B → V decays.

The study of flavour physics allows for the Standard Model (SM) to be tested to higher energies than can be accessed through direct searches. The SM is known not to provide enough of a difference between matter and anti-matter, termed CP violation, to explain the dominance of matter in our universe. One of the main purposes of the LHCb experiment is to search for new sources of CP violation in the decays of B mesons. Flavour changing neutral current (FCNC) interactions are forbidden at tree level in the SM, and can therefore only be accessed through quantum loops. In New Physics scenarios such as Supersymmetry, new particles could appear in those loops introducing new sources of CP violation. The Bos→ØØ decay proceeds via the b → sss FCNC transition. Triple products provide a method of exploiting the angular distributions of P → V V decays to create T-odd observables. Asymmetries of these T-odd observables, averaged over the initial flavour of the Bos meson provide a measure of T violation. Assuming CPT conservation, violation of time reversal infers CP violation. The CP-violating weak phase in the interference between Bos mixing and the decay to two Ø mesons is predicted to be close to zero in the SM. The measurements of the triple product asymmetries and the CP-violating weak phase have been performed using 1.0 fb-1 of LHCb data. Events where kaon pairs originate from a spin-0 or non-resonant state are accounted for with the associated angular distributions. Triple product asymmetries are measured to be AU = -0:055 ± 0:036(stat) ± 0:018(syst) and Av = 0:010 ± 0:036(stat) ± 0:018(syst). The CP-violating phase is found to be in the interval [-2:46,-0:76] rad at 68% confidence level. The p-value for the hypothesis of zero radians is found to be 16 %. These results represent the most accurate measurements of the triple product asymmetries and the first measurement of the CP-violating weak phase.

Heavy quark decays provide a very advantageous investigation to test the Standard Model (SM). Recently, promising experiments with b quark, as well as the analysis of the huge data sets produced at the Large Hadron Collider(LHC) experiment, have led to an increasing study and sensitive measurements of relative b quark decays. In this thesis, a preliminary study is presented for the first time observation of the B+ → ψ(2S)φK+ with a statistical significance above 5 standard deviations using proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV collected with CMS detector at LHC. The data sample, selected on the basis of the dimuon decay mode of the ψ(2S), corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.6 fb−1. A total of 140±15 B+ → ψ(2S)φK+ events have been observed. The branching fraction of B+ → ψ(2S)φK+ is measured relative to B+ → ψ(2S)K+, whose absolute branching fraction (BF) is known. The ratio is converted to an absolute branching fraction of B+ → ψ(2S)φK+, including systematics which is determined to be (4.0 ± 0.4(stat) ± 0.6(syst) ± 0.1(BR)) × 10−6, where the third uncertainty is due to imprecise knowledge of BF. The upper limit of the fraction of B+ → ψ(2S)(non−φ)K+ component in the selected B+ → ψ(2S)K+K−K+ channel is found to be 26% at 95% confidence level.

A central goal of flavour physics is a precise determination of the elements of the CKM matrix, which quantifies the strength of charged-current weak interactions between quarks. Of particular interest is the angle γ in the 'b-d' unitarity triangle parameterisation of the CKM matrix. One of the most promising methods to determine γ directly is to measure CP violation in interfering B±->DK± decays, where D indicates a coherent superposition of D0 and D0bar, both of which decay to the same final state. When using this method it is essential to determine the hadronic decay parameters of the D precisely in order to reduce the systematic uncertainties on the measurement of γ. One such parameter is the strong-phase difference between D0 and D0bar decays, which must be accurately known across the entire kinematic phase space. In this thesis we present measurements related to the determination of γ at both the CLEO-c experiment at Cornell University and the LHCb experiment at CERN. Firstly, we describe a model-independent determination of the D->KsKK strong-phase difference using 818pb-1 of quantum-correlated D0-D0bar data collected by CLEO-c at the ψ(3770) resonance. We reconstruct D->KsKK decays tagged with a variety of final states. By studying these decays we determine the weighted cosine and sine of the strong-phase difference in bins across the Dalitz plane. We run simulations to estimate the impact of these measurements on a determination of γ using B±->D(KsKK)K± decays. The resulting uncertainty on γ due to the CLEO-c inputs is between 3.2° and 3.9°, depending on how the Dalitz plane is binned. Furthermore, we present a model-independent measurement of the CP content of the decay D0->KsKK in the kinematic region of the φ->KK resonance. The fraction of CP-odd events in this region is 0.76 or higher at the 90% C.L. We also present an analysis of data recorded by LHCb in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.5pb-1. We reconstruct the decays B±->D(Kπ)h± and B±->D(KK)h±, where h± indicates either K± or π±. Although there are not enough events in this dataset to measure γ, we are able to measure other observables related to CP violation in the B±->Dh± system. We measure B(DK,Fav)/B(Dπ,Fav), the ratio of the branching fraction of B±->D(Kπ)K± to that of B±->D(Kπ)π±, to be 0.066 ± 0.005 ± 0.004, and B(DK,CP)/B(Dπ,CP), the ratio of the branching fraction of B±->D(KK)K± to that of B±->D(KK)π±, to be 0.093 ± 0.019 ± 0.005. We determine several CP asymmetries: A(CP+,DK), the CP asymmetry in B±->D(KK)K± decays, is measured as 0.06 ± 0.17 ± 0.07; A(CP+,Dπ), the CP asymmetry in B±->D(KK)π± decays, is found to be 0.009 ± 0.042 ± 0.011; and A(Fav,DK), the CP asymmetry in B±->D(Kπ)K± decays, is measured as -0.109 ± 0.085 ± 0.019. Finally we calculate R(CP+), the ratio of the branching fraction of B±->D(KK)K± to that of B±->D(Kπ)K±, to be 1.41 ± 0.31 ± 0.11. These results indicate that LHCb is in a strong position to make a world-leading measurement of γ with a larger data sample.

An angular analysis of the rare decay B0 → K∗ (K+ π− )µ+ µ− is presented. The study is based on a data sample from pp collisions at centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1 . An extended unbinned maximum-likelihood fit of the decay angular distribution is used to measure the CP-averaged angular observables FL, S3, S4, S5, S7 and S8 and the cor- responding form-factor independent observables P1, P4, P5, P6 and P8. The measurements are performed in the region 0.04 GeV2 < q2 < 6 GeV2 , where q is the dimuon invariant mass. The results are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions and com- patible with measurements published by other experiments. The most signifi- cant deviations are observed for parameters P4, P5 at the level of 2.7 standard deviations and for P8 which is 1.9 standard deviations away from one of the predictions. The P5 deviation in bin 4 GeV2 < q2 < 6 GeV2 is consistent with the one reported by the LHCb collaboration. The second part of this work shortly summarises the operation of the ATLAS Semiconductor Tracker, testing of the prototype module for the Inner Tracker strip upgrade, and the monitoring of non-collision background which was devel- oped as a part of this thesis.

Two measurements of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa angle &gamma; using B &rarr; DK and B⁰ &rarr; DK^&ast;0 decays are presented in this thesis. The subsequent D meson decays to the K_S⁰&pi;⁺&pi;^− and K_S⁰K⁺K^− final states are studied using a binned Dalitz plot analysis. The D strong-phase variation over the Dalitz plot is taken from measurements performed at the CLEO-c experiment, making the analysis independent of a model to describe the D decay amplitude. Both measurements are performed using proton-proton collision data collected by the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment in 2011 and 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb^−1 at centre-of-mass energies &radic;s = 7 TeV and 8 TeV. The value &gamma;= (62 ⁺¹⁵<sub style='position: relative; left: -1.7em;'>−14</sub>)° is measured using B⁰ &rarr; DK^&ast;0 decays and &gamma; = (71 ± 20)° is measured using B⁰ &rarr; DK^&ast;0 decays, with a second solution for each value corresponding to &gamma; + 180°. The measurements are consistent with the world average value of &gamma;.

In this thesis, using a general model independent form of the effective Hamiltonian, the CP-violating asymmetries in the b -&gt / d l l transition, when one of the leptons is polarized, is investigated. The sensitivity of the CP-violating asymmetries on the new Wilson coefficients are analyzed. Next, in the frame work of the same formalism, the polarized lepton pair forward&amp / #8211 / backward asymmetries in B-&gt / K l l decay are studied. We present the general expression for the nine double&amp / #8211 / polarization forward&amp / #8211 / backward asymmetries. It is obtained that, the zero point position of the forward&amp / #8211 / backward asymmetries of the doubly&amp / #8211 / polarized lepton pair does not depend on long distance effects but depends on short distance dynamics. Furthermore, it is shown that the zero position of AFB is very sensitive to the sign of the new Wilson coefficients. When sign of the Wilson coefficients is positive (negative) the zero position of the forward&amp / #8211 / backward asymmetries shifts to the left(right) compared to the SM. Moreover, the dependencies of the nine double&amp / #8211 / polarization forward&amp / #8211 / backward asymmetries on new Wilson coefficients, and the correlation of the averaged nine double&amp / #8211 / polarization forward&amp / #8211 / backward asymmetries with branching ratio, have been studied. It is observed that, the study of the nine double&amp / #8211 / polarization forward&amp / #8211 / backward asymmetries can serve as a good test in establishing new physics beyond the Standard Model. Finally, we observed that there are exist such regions of new Wilson coefficients for which the nine double&amp / #8211 / polarization forward&amp / #8211 / backward asymmetries considerably depart from the SM result, while the branching ratio coincides with that of the SM prediction. In other words, new physics effects can be established by analyzing polarized forwardbackward asymmetry in this region of the new Wilson coefficients.