November 29, 2011
A new era in particle physics has begun with the main focus of the field now turned to the discovery of physics beyond the Standard Model. While, the Standard Model has, thus far, passed all tests to very high accuracy, there are many indications that it is an incomplete theory. Direct searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model, in the form of new types of elementary particles and interactions, are underway at experiments at the CERN LHC collider. The reach of these searches is in the multi-TeV energy scale that is currently reachable at the LHC. Another powerful approach, historically responsible for some of the major discoveries in the field, is the indirect detection of the imprints of New Physics through virtual quantum effects. Precision measurements of such processes can provide complementary information on possible New Physics signatures that may emerge at the LHC, but also provide a window into physics at energy scales far exceeding those available to the direct searches. On the experimental front, the measurements of these rare processes often require particle collisions at extremely high intensity. In this talk, I will describe the prospects for indirect searches for new physics and new sources of CP violation by using the bottom quark as a probe. I will also describe some of the key experimental breakthroughs that have made it possible to design and develop a very high luminosity electron-positron collider that allows for precision measurements of New Physics effects in the decays of particles containing the bottom quark.
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Colloquia are held Tuesdays in Room 1410 at 4:00 pm (preceded by light refreshments at 3:30). If you have additional questions, please call 301-405-5946.
