New Perspectives in Heavy Flavor Physics

This book takes a critical look at heavy flavor phenomenology at a critical juncture of its history. We are at a transition period when the focus of this field is evolving from a precise and exhaustive exploration of the Standard Model - which is our current theory of fundamental particles and interactions - to a search for evidence of new physics. An underlying theme of this monograph is the search for connections between different fields of experimental physics. Written from the perspective of a curious experimentalist with a keen interest to develop a deep understanding of the phenomenology explored in recent and future data, this book introduces widely accessible formulations of the theory tools needed to relate the experimental data to fundamental theory parameters. In addition, an extensive discussion of the experimental methods used to explore this physics is included. The core of the book is largely devoted to the physics of charm and beauty quark weak decays, with substantial material on top quark masses and weak coupling. In the final chapter, connections with the lepton sectors and the neutrino mass and mixing parameters are drawn.