Flavour physics

Abstract

We explain the reasons for the interest in flavor physics. We describe flavor physics and the related CP violation within the Standard Model, with emphasis on the predictions of the model related to features such as flavor universality and flavor diagonality. We describe the flavor structure of flavor changing charged current interactions, and how they are used to extract the CKM parameters. We describe the structure of flavor changing neutral current interactions, and explain why they are highly suppressed in the Standard Model. We explain how the B-factories proved that the CKM (KM) mechanism dominates the flavor changing (CP violating) processes that have been observed in meson decays. We explain the implications of flavor physics for new physics, with emphasis on the “new physics flavor puzzle”, and present the idea of minimal flavor violation as a possible solution. We explain the “Standard Model flavor puzzle”, and present the Froggatt–Nielsen mechanism as a possible solution. We show that measurements of the Higgs boson decays may provide new opportunities for making progress on the various flavor puzzles. We briefly discuss two sets of measurements and some of their possible theoretical implications: R(K^(∗)) and R(D^(∗)).