Penguin, or loop, decays of B mesons induce effective flavor-changing neutral
currents, which are forbidden at tree level in the Standard Model. These decays
give special insight into the CKM matrix and are sensitive to non-standard
model effects. In this review, we give a historical and theoretical
introduction to penguins and a description of the various types of penguin
processes: electromagnetic, electroweak, and gluonic. We review the
experimental searches for penguin decays, including the measurements of the
electromagnetic penguins b -> s gamma and B -> K* gamma and gluonic penguins B
-> K pi, B+ -> omega K+ and B -> eta' K, and their implications for the
Standard Model and New Physics. We conclude by exploring the future prospects
for penguin physics.Comment: 49 pages, LATEX, 30 embedded figures, submitted to Annual Reviews of
Nuclear and Particle Scienc
