Lifetime differences in neutral B mesons

Abstract

We discuss the phenomenological aspects of lifetime differences in the B_s and B_d systems in a “compare and contrast” style. We outline the theoretical calculations of these quantities and study the decay modes with the potential to measure them. We demonstrate the role of the lifetime differences in the measurement of the weak phases, and exemplify how the nonzero lifetime differences open up possibilities for the measurements of new CP violating observables. We bound the new physics effects on the values of ΔΓ_s and ΔΓ_d, and explore the possibilities for identifying new physics through the measurements involving them.