Interference between f0(980) and rho(770) resonances in B --> pion-pion-kaon decays

We study the contribution of the strong interaction between the two pions in S- and P-waves to the weak B --> pion pion kaon decay amplitudes. The interference between these two waves is analyzed in the pion-pion effective mass range of the rho(770) and f0(980) resonances. We use a unitary pion-pion and antikaon-kaon coupled-channel model to describe the S-wave interactions and a Breit-Wigner function for the P-wave amplitude. The weak B-decay amplitudes, obtained from QCD factorization, are supplemented with charming penguin contributions in both waves. The four complex parameters of these long distance terms are determined by fitting the model to the BaBar and Belle data on B^{+,-,0} --> pi+ pi- K^{+,-,0} branching fractions, CP asymmetries, pion-pion effective mass and helicity-angle distributions. This set of data, and in particular the large direct CP-asymmetry for B^{+,-} --> rho0(770) K^{+,-} decays, is well reproduced. The interplay of charming penguin amplitudes and the interference of S- and P-waves describes rather successfully the experimental S and A values of the CP-violating asymmetry for both B0 --> f0(980) K0S and B0 --> rho0(770) K0S decays.