Final-state interactions, resonances and CP violation in D and B exclusive decays

Systematics of experimental partial widths for corresponding charged and neutral decays into low-lying exclusive quasi-two-body final states in the same isospin multiplets are analyzed. Exclusive and inclusive D decays both show enhancement of neutral relative to charged decays. Exclusive charged B decays show an unexplained enhancement in low-lying channels absent in inclusive decays which must be reversed in other channels in order to equalise the charged and neutral lifetimes. The charged B exclusive enhancement arises from constructive interference between colour favored and colour suppressed contributions in those exclusive channels where all final state mesons have nodeless wave functions. This analysis directs the experimental search to modes involving excited mesons like the a(1) where the relative phase which depends upon hadron form factors can be reversed whereby the charged-B enhancement may be reversed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.