Measurements of Branching Fractions and $CP$-Violating Asymmetries in $B^0 \rightarrow \pi^+\pi^-, K^+\pi^-, K^+K^-$ Decays

We present updated measurements of branching fractions and CP-violating asymmetries for neutral B meson decays to two-body final states of charged pions and kaons. The results are obtained from a data sample of about 60 million Y(4S) --> B-anti-B decays collected between 1999 and 2001 by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B Factory at SLAC. The sample contains 124^{+16}_{-15} pi-pi, 403+/-24 K-pi, and 0.6^{+8.0}_{-7.4} K-K candidates, from which we measure the following quantities: BF(B0 --> pi+pi-) = (5.4+/-0.7+/-0.4) x 10^{-6}, BF(B0 --> K+pi-) = (17.8+/-1.1+/-0.8) x 10^{-6}, BF(B0 --> K+K-) < 1.1 x 10^{-6} (90% C.L.} A_Kpi = -0.05+/-0.06+/-0.01 [-0.14,+0.05], S_pipi = -0.01+/-0.37+/-0.07 [-0.66,+0.62], C_pipi = -0.02+/-0.29+/-0.07 [-0.54,+0.48], where the errors are statistical and systematic, respectively, and the asymmetry limits correspond to the 90% confidence level. These results are preliminary.