The b → s ℓ + ℓ − process is studied in the minimal supergravity model in detail. Taking account of the long distance contributions from the cc resonances, we calculate the branching ratio and the lepton forward-backward asymmetry in this model. We find that there is a strong correlation between the branching ratios of b → s γ and b → s ℓ + ℓ − processes and that the interference effect can change the b → s ℓ + ℓ − branching ratio in the off-resonance regions by up to ±15% depending on the relative phase between the long and short distance contributions. Using various phenomenological constraints including the branching ratio of b → s γ, we show that there are regions in the parameter space where the branching ratio of b → s ℓ + ℓ − is enhanced by about 50% compared to the SM. We also show that the branching ratio of b → s νν is reduced at most by 10% from the SM prediction.
I IntroductionAlthough the Standard Model (SM) of the elementary particle physics is successful in explaining almost all experimental results, it is possible that physics beyond the SM exists just above the presently available energy scale. Since new physics may affect various processes at low energy such as the flavor changing neutral current (FCNC) processes of K mesons and B mesons, new physics searches in these processes are as important as direct particle searches at collider experiments. A prime example is the b → s γ process. Experimentally the inclusive branching ratio is determined as B(b → s γ) = (2.32 ± 0.57 ± 0.35) × 10 −4 at the CLEO experiment [1]. It is known that this process puts very strong constraints on various new physics beyond the SM, for example two Higgs doublet model and supersymmetric (SUSY) extension of the SM. Along with the b → s γ process, another important rare b decay process is the b → s ℓ ℓ decay. Although only upper bounds on branching ratios are given by experiments for various exclusive modes [2], this process is expected to be observed in the near future at B factories as well as at hadron machines.In this paper we investigate the b → s ℓ ℓ decay in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), especially in the minimal supergravity (SUGRA) model.The MSSM is now considered to be the most promising candidate beyond the SM. In the MSSM, SUSY partners such as squarks, sleptons, higgsinos and gauginos can contribute to FCNC processes through loop diagrams. In order to evaluate their contributions quantitatively it is necessary to specify how soft SUSY breaking terms are generated. In particular, the soft SUSY breaking terms in the squark sector become new sources of flavor mixing, and the K 0 -K 0 mixing becomes too large if the squark mixing is O(1) and masses of SUSY partners are in below-TeV region [3]. In the minimal SUGRA model it is assumed that the soft SUSY breaking terms are universal at the Planck or GUT scale. Flavor mixing at the electroweak scale can be determined by solving the relevant renormalization group equations (RGEs) from the Planck to the low energy scale. It is shown t...