Parametrization of flavor mixing in the standard model

It is shown that there exist nine different ways to describe the flavor mixing, in terms of three rotation angles and one CP-violating phase, within the standard electroweak theory of six quarks. For the assignment of the complex phase there essentially exists a continuum of possibilities, if one allows the phase to appear in more than four elements of the mixing matrix. If the phase is restricted to four elements, the phase assignment is uniquely defined. If one imposes the constraint that the phase disappears in a natural way in the chiral limit in which the masses of the u and d quarks are turned off, only three of the nine parametrizations are acceptable. In particular the {open_quotes}standard{close_quotes} parametrization advocated by the Particle Data Group is not permitted. One parametrization, in which the CP-violating phase is restricted to the light quark sector, stands up as the most favorable description of the flavor mixing. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}