Particle Physics Reference Library


Book Description

This first open access volume of the handbook series contains articles on the standard model of particle physics, both from the theoretical and experimental perspective. It also covers related topics, such as heavy-ion physics, neutrino physics and searches for new physics beyond the standard model. A joint CERN-Springer initiative, the "Particle Physics Reference Library" provides revised and updated contributions based on previously published material in the well-known Landolt-Boernstein series on particle physics, accelerators and detectors (volumes 21A, B1,B2,C), which took stock of the field approximately one decade ago. Central to this new initiative is publication under full open access




Kaon Physics


Book Description

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.




B Decays


Book Description

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.




Heavy Flavours


Book Description

This volume is a collection of review articles on the most outstanding topics in heavy flavour physics. All the authors have made significant contributions to this field. The book reviews in detail the theoretical structure of heavy flavour physics within the Standard Model and its confrontation with existing experimental data.The physics of the top quark and of the Higgs play an important role in this volume. Beginning with radiative electroweak corrections and their impressive tests at LEP and hadron colliders, the book summarizes the present status of quark mixing, CP violation and rare decays. The dynamics of exclusive D- and B-meson decays, the τ-lepton physics and the newly discovered heavy quark symmetries are discussed in detail. The impact of strong interactions on weak decays is clearly visible in many articles. The physics of heavy flavours at LEP, HERA and hadron colliders constitutes an important part of the book. Another significant topic is the possible role of heavy flavours in the spontaneous symmetry breaking of gauge symmetries. Finally the most recent advances in lattice calculations of the properties of heavy flavours and the lattice studies of the dynamics of heavy flavours are presented.




Introduction to Soft-Collinear Effective Theory


Book Description

Among resummation techniques for perturbative QCD in the context of collider and flavor physics, soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) has emerged as both a powerful and versatile tool, having been applied to a large variety of processes, from B-meson decays to jet production at the LHC. This book provides a concise, pedagogical introduction to this technique. It discusses the expansion of Feynman diagrams around the high-energy limit, followed by the explicit construction of the effective Lagrangian - first for a scalar theory, then for QCD. The underlying concepts are illustrated with the quark vector form factor at large momentum transfer, and the formalism is applied to compute soft-gluon resummation and to perform transverse-momentum resummation for the Drell-Yan process utilizing renormalization group evolution in SCET. Finally, the infrared structure of n-point gauge-theory amplitudes is analyzed by relating them to effective-theory operators. This text is suitable for graduate students and non-specialist researchers alike as it requires only basic knowledge of perturbative QCD.




Study of Double Charm B Decays with the LHCb Experiment at CERN and Track Reconstruction for the LHCb Upgrade


Book Description

This book discusses the study of double charm B decays and the first observation of B0->D0D0Kst0 decay using Run I data from the LHCb experiment. It also describes in detail the upgrade for the Run III of the LHCb tracking system and the trigger and tracking strategy for the LHCb upgrade, as well as the development and performance studies of a novel standalone tracking algorithm for the scintillating fibre tracker that will be used for the LHCb upgrade. This algorithm alone allows the LHCb upgrade physics program to achieve incredibly high sensitivity to decays containing long-lived particles as final states as well as to boost the physics capabilities for the reconstruction of low momentum particles.




The Physics of the B Factories


Book Description

This comprehensive work thoroughly introduces and reviews the set of results from Belle and BaBar - after more than two decades of independent and complementary work - all the way from the detectors and the analysis tools used, up to the physics results, and the interpretation of these results. The world’s two giant B Factory collaborations, Belle at KEK and BaBar at SLAC, have successfully completed their main mission to discover and quantify CP violation in the decays of B mesons. CP violation is a necessary requirement to distinguish unambiguously between matter and antimatter. The shared primary objective of the two B Factory experiments was to determine the shape of the so-called unitarity triangle, an abstract triangle representing interactions of quarks, the elementary constituents of matter. The area of the triangle is a measure of the amount of CP violation associated with the weak force. Many other measurements have been performed by the B Factories and are also discussed in this work.




On Three Levels


Book Description

This volume contains the proceedings of a five-day NATO Advanced Research Workshop "On Three Levels, the mathematical physics of micro-, meso-, and macro phenomena," conducted from July 19 to 23 in Leuven, Belgium. The main purpose of the workshop was to bring together and to confront where relevant, classical and quantum approaches in the rigorous study of the relation between the various levels of physical description. The reader will find here discussions on a variety of topics involving a broad range of scales. For the micro-level, contributions are presented on models of reaction-diffusion pro cesses, quantum groups and quantum spin systems. The reports on quantum disorder, the quantum Hall effect, semi-classical approaches of wave mechanics and the random Schrodinger equation can be situated on the meso-level. Discussions on macroscopic quantum effects and large scale fluctuations are dealing with the macroscopic level of description. These three levels are however not independent and emphasis is put on relating these scales of description. This is especially the case for the contributions on kinetic and hydrodynamicallimits, the discussions on large deviations and the strong and weak coupling limits. The advisory board was composed of J.L. Lebowitz, J.T. Lewis and E.H. Lieb. The organizing committee was formed by Ph.A. Martin, G.L. Sewell, E.R. Speer and A.




Dualities and Representations of Lie Superalgebras


Book Description

This book gives a systematic account of the structure and representation theory of finite-dimensional complex Lie superalgebras of classical type and serves as a good introduction to representation theory of Lie superalgebras. Several folklore results are rigorously proved (and occasionally corrected in detail), sometimes with new proofs. Three important dualities are presented in the book, with the unifying theme of determining irreducible characters of Lie superalgebras. In order of increasing sophistication, they are Schur duality, Howe duality, and super duality. The combinatorics of symmetric functions is developed as needed in connections to Harish-Chandra homomorphism as well as irreducible characters for Lie superalgebras. Schur-Sergeev duality for the queer Lie superalgebra is presented from scratch with complete detail. Howe duality for Lie superalgebras is presented in book form for the first time. Super duality is a new approach developed in the past few years toward understanding the Bernstein-Gelfand-Gelfand category of modules for classical Lie superalgebras. Super duality relates the representation theory of classical Lie superalgebras directly to the representation theory of classical Lie algebras and thus gives a solution to the irreducible character problem of Lie superalgebras via the Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials of classical Lie algebras.




Die Fakultät für Physik/The Faculty of Physics


Book Description

The hallmark of Technical Physics at the Faculty of Physics is the close connection between research and teaching. Despite the high level of specialisation required for remaining internationally competitive in cutting-edge research, physics at TU Vienna nevertheless covers a remarkably broad range of topics that can be roughly divided into three core areas: the physics of matter, physical technology and fundamental interactions. This volume is intended to give the non-specialised reader an impression of the outstanding research and teaching done at the Faculty of Physics.