Towards a model-independent analysis of rare B decays

Motivated by the experimental accessibility of rare B decays in the ongoing and planned experiments, we propose to undertake a model-independent analysis of the inclusive decay rates and distributions in the processes \bgamaxs~ and \Bsell ~(B=B^\pm or B^0_d). We show how measurements of the decay rates and distributions in these processes would allow us to extract the magnitude and sign of the dominant Wilson coefficients of the magnetic moment operator \mb \bar{s}_L \sigma_{\mu \nu} b_R F^{\mu \nu } and the four-fermion operators (\bar{s}_L \gamma_\mu b_L)(\bar{\ell} \gamma^{\mu} \ell) and (\bar{s}_L \gamma_\mu b_L)(\bar{\ell} \gamma^{\mu}\gamma^5 \ell). Non-standard-model effects could thus manifest themselves at low energy in rare B decays through the Wilson coefficient having values distinctly different from their standard-model counterparts. We illustrate this possibility using the examples of the two-doublet Higgs models and the minimal supersymmetric models. The dilepton invariant mass spectrum and the forward-backward asymmetry of \ell^+ in the centre-of-mass system of the dilepton pair in the decay \Bsell ~are also worked out for the standard model and some representative solutions for the other two models.