Why didn't the matter in our Universe annihilate with antimatter immediately after its creation? The study of CP violation may help to answer this fundamental question. This book presents theoretical tools necessary to understand this phenomenon. Reflecting the explosion of new results over the last decade, this second edition has been substantially expanded. It introduces charge conjugation, parity and time reversal, before describing the Kobayashi-Maskawa (KM) theory for CP violation and our understanding of CP violation in kaon decays. It reveals how the discovery of B mesons has provided a new laboratory to study CP violation with KM theory predicting large asymmetries, and discusses how these predictions have been confirmed since the first edition of this book. Later chapters describe the search for a new theory of nature's fundamental dynamics. This book is suitable for researchers in high energy, atomic and nuclear physics, and the history and philosophy of science.
Electric dipole moments (EDMs) have interested physicists since 1950, when it was first suggested that there was no experimental evidence that nuclear forces are symmetric under parity (P) transformation. This question was regarded as speculative because the existence of an EDM, in addition to P violation, requires a violation of time-reversal (T) symmetry. In 1964 it was discovered that the invariance under CP transformation, which combines charge conjugation (C) with parity, is violated in K-meson decays. This provided a new incentive for EDM searches. Since the combined operations of CPT are expected to leave a system invariant, breakdown of CP invariance should be accompanied by a violation of time-reversal symmetry. Thus there is a reason to expect that EDMs should exist at some level. The original neutron EDM experiments were later supplemented with checks of T invariance in atoms and molecules. These investigations are pursued now by many groups. Over the years, the upper limit on the neutron EDM has been improved by seven orders of magnitude, and the upper limit on the electron EDM obtained in atomic experiments is even more strict.
Presenting the proceedings of FPCP 2018, this book reviews the status quo of flavor physics and discusses the latest findings in this exciting area. Flavor physics has been instrumental in the formulation and understanding of the standard model, and it is possible that the direction of new physics will be significantly influenced by flavor sector, also known as the intensity frontier, making it possible to indirectly test the existence of new physics up to a very high scale, beyond that of the energy frontier scale accessible at the LHC. The book is intended for academics around the globe involved in particle physics research, professionals associated with the related technologies and those who are interested in learning about the future of physics and its prospects and directions.
This 2nd edition is an extensive update of "B Decays?. The revisions are necessary because of the extensive amount of new data and new theoretical ideas. This book reviews what is known about b-quark decays and also looks at what can be learned in the future.The importance of this research area is increasing, as evidenced by the approval of the luminosity upgrade for CESR and the asymmetric B factories at SLAC and KEK, and the possibility of experiments at hadron colliders.The key experimental observations made thus far, measurement of the lifetimes of the different B species, B0-B0 mixing, the discovery of ?Penguin? mediated decays, and the extraction of the CKM matrix elements Vub and Vcb from semileptonic decays, as well as more mundane results, are described in great detail by the experimentalists who have been closely involved with making the measurements. Theoretical progress in understanding b-quark decays using HQET and lattice gauge techniques are described by theorists who have developed and used these techniques.Synthesizing the experimental and theoretical information, several articles discuss the implications for the ?Standard Model? and how further tests can be done using measurements of CP violation in the B system.
The violation of charge-conjugation and parity symmetries is a leading area of research in particle and nuclear physics, with important implications for understanding the generation of matter in the universe. This book provides a self-contained introduction and is designed to bring beginning researchers to the forefront of the field.
In 1947, the first of what have come to be known as "strange particles" were detected. As the number and variety of these particles proliferated, physicists began to try to make sense of them. Some seemed to have masses about 900 times that of the electron, and existed in both charged and neutral varieties. These particles are now called kaons (or K mesons), and they have become the subject of some of the most exciting research in particle physics. Kaon Physics at the Turn of the Millennium presents cutting-edge papers by leading theorists and experimentalists that synthesize the current state of the field and suggest promising new directions for the future study of kaons. Topics covered include the history of kaon physics, direct CP violation in kaon decays, time reversal violation, CPT studies, theoretical aspects of kaon physics, rare kaon decays, hyperon physics, charm: CP violation and mixing, the physics of B mesons, and future opportunities for kaon physics in the twenty-first century.
This book addresses various aspects of physics, using Quantum oscillation (QO) as a common denominator. QO plays an important role in many aspects of physics, such as the Weinberg angle, Caribbo angle, neutrino oscillation, K0 oscillation and CP violation, mass generation by the Higgs field, hadron mass pattern, lepton anomalous magnetic moment, spin precession, hydrogen HI line, etc. Usually, these subjects are taught separately. As such, this book allows readers to learn about a wide range of physics subjects in a unified manner and to gain farther-reaching perspectives. The readers may be surprised at the fact that different looking physics are actually closely related with each other. They will also find essential information on quantum mechanics at the heart from many concrete examples. Though the book is mainly intended for graduate students of particle, nuclear and astrophysics, undergraduate students and researchers will also benefit from the content.
The Standard Model of elementary particles and interactions is one of the best tested theories in physics. It has been found to be in remarkable agreement with experiment, and its validity at the quantum level has been successfully probed in the electroweak sector. In spite of its experimental successes, though, the Standard Model suffers from a number of limitations, and is likely to be an incomplete theory. It contains many arbitrary parameters; it does not include gravity, the fourth elementary interaction; it does not provide an explanation for the hierarchy between the scale of electroweak interactions and the Planck scale, characteristic of gravitational interactions; and finally, it fails to account for the dark matter and the baryon asymmetry of the universe. This led particle theorists to develop and study various extensions of the Standard Model, such as supersymmetric theories, Grand Unified Theories or theories with extra space-time dimensions - most of which have been proposed well before the experimental verification of the Standard Model. The coming generation of experimental facilities (such as high-energy colliders, B-physics experiments, neutrino superbeams, as well as astrophysical and cosmological observational facilities) will allow us to test the predictions of these theories and to deepen our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature.This book is a collection of lectures given in August 2005 at the Les Houches Summer School on Particle Physics beyond the Standard Model. It provides a pedagogical introduction to the various aspects of particle physics beyond the Standard Model, covering each topic from the basics to the most recent developments: supersymmetric theories, Grand Unified Theories, theories with extra dimensions, flavour physics and CP violation, neutrino physics, astroparticle physics and cosmology.·Provides a pedagogical introduction to particle physics beyond the Standard Model·Covers the various aspects of particle physics beyond the Standard Model·Addresses each topic from the basics to the most recent developments·Addresses both the theoretical and phenomenological aspects of the subject·Written in a pedagogical style by leading experts in the field
The articles collected in this volume are mainly concerned with the phenomenological description of the 1964 discovery on Kdeg; decay that CP invariance was violated in nature. The variety of models developed to explain this CP violation are described together with reprints of more recent definitive experiments, and CP violation in the Bdeg; system and the electric dipole moment of the neutron is also covered.
