Exchange-positive CP convention for neutral kaon mixing ($|K_{\pm }⟩=\frac{|K_{1,2}⟩+ϵ|K_{2,1}⟩}{\sqrt{1+|ϵ{|}^2}}$)

In the phase convention $CP|K^0⟩=|{\bar{K}}^0⟩$, the symmetric flavor combination is CP even and the antisymmetric one CP odd. For an equal-diagonal effective matrix with entries b,c off diagonal, choose correlated roots r,s with $r^2=b$, $s^2=c$ and eigenvalues $a\pm rs$. Its eigenvectors are $(r,\pm s{)}^T$. Writing $ϵ=(r-s)/(r+s)$ gives the displayed CP-basis mixtures, up to an overall phase. Their deviation is small only if $|ϵ|\ll 1$; noninvariance alone does not guarantee that. This convention must not be mixed with one in which flavor exchange carries a minus sign.