New information onBdecays to charmlessVPfinal states

The decays of B mesons to charmless final states consisting of a vector meson $\mathrm{}\left(V\right)\mathrm{}$ and a pseudoscalar meson $\mathrm{}\left(P\right)\mathrm{}$ are analyzed within flavor SU(3). Predictions are compared with new data from the CLEO Collaboration. Dominant contributions to amplitudes and subdominant interfering terms are identified. Evidence is found for a specific penguin amplitude (contributing, for example, to $B^{+}\to {\rho }^{+}{K}^0)$ at a level much higher than that implied by most explicit models. The validity of the conclusion $\cos \gamma <0,$ obtained through other analyses of $\overrightarrow{B}\mathrm{VP}$ decays, is examined here from a less model-dependent standpoint. It is found that several processes are consistent with $\cos \gamma <0\mathrm{}$ (or $\cos \alpha >0),$ and measurements are suggested which could make this conclusion more robust.