POSSIBILITY OF LARGE DIRECT CP VIOLATION IN B-]K-PI-LIKE MODES BECAUSE OF LONG-DISTANCE RESCATTERING EFFECTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ANGLE-GAMMA - ART. NO. 036005

We consider the strong rescattering effects that can occur in decays s uch as B-->K pi, Kpi, K rho,..., and their impact on direct CP violat ion in these modes. First we discuss, in general, how the CPT theorem constrains the resulting pattern of partial rate asymmetries (PRA's) l eading to different brands of direct CP violation. Traditional discuss ions have centered around the absorptive part of the penguin graph whi ch has Delta I=0 in b-->s transitions and as a result causes ''simple' ' CP violation; long-distance final state rescattering effects, in gen eral, will lead to a different pattern of CP violation: ''compound'' C P violation. Predictions of simple CP violation are quite distinct fro m that of compound CP violation. Final state rescattering phases in B decays are unlikely to be small possibly causing large compound CP-vio lating partial rate asymmetries in these modes. The CPT theorem requir es a cancellation of PRA's due to compound CP violation among the K pi states themselves; thus there can be no net cancellation with other s tates such as Kpi, K rho, etc. Therefore, each class of such modes, n amely, K pi, K rho, Kpi, Ka(1), etc., can have large direct CP violat ion emanating from rescattering effects. Various repercussions for the angle gamma are also discussed. [S0556-2821(98)06215-8].