Introduction to BB Physics

A short introduction to some current topics in $B$ physics is presented in order to set the stage for some results to be announced at this Workshop. After briefly reviewing the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix and information on its parameters, the decays of neutral $B$ mesons to several CP eigenstates, and some $B \to \pi K$ decays, are discussed. It is shown that progress is being made on determination of all the angles of the unitarity triangle.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, 7 figures plus photo, invited talk presented at XXXVIII Rencontres de Moriond: Electroweak Interactions and Unified Theories, Les Arcs, France, March 15-22, 2003. To be published in the Proceedings. More typographic corrections; two figures improved furthe

Exotic states of matter in heavy meson decays

The potential of decays of mesons containing heavy quarks [including $B$ mesons and the $\Upsilon(1S)$] for producing final states of matter with unusual quark configurations, such as $q q \bar q \bar q$ or $q q q q \bar q$, is investigated. The usefulness of antineutron detection in such searches is stressed.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. References and some text adde

Hadron Spectroscopy - A 2005 Snapshot

Some aspects of hadron spectroscopy are reviewed as of summer 2005.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, invited talk presented at Physics in Collision 2005, Prague, Czech Republic, July 7-9, 2005. Proceedings to be published by AIP. Uses AIP style files. Typo correcte

Resource Letter: The Standard Model and Beyond

This Resource Letter provides a guide to literature on the Standard Model of elementary particles and possible extensions. In the successful theory of quarks and leptons and their interactions, important questions remain, such as the mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking, the origin of quark and lepton masses, the source of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, and the makeup of its matter and energy density. References are cited for quarks and leptons, gauge theories, color and chromodynamics, weak interactions, electroweak unification, CP violation, dynamics of heavy quarks, Higgs bosons, precision electroweak measurements, supersymmetry, dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking, composite quarks and leptons, grand unification and extended gauge groups, string theories, large extra dimensions, neutrino masses, cosmic microwave background radiation, dark matter, dark energy, accelerator facilities, and non-accelerator experiments.Comment: 43 pages, LaTeX, no figures, to be published in Am. J. Phys. References further updated to January 200

Two Topics in bb Physics

(1) A simple transversity analysis permits one to separate the P-even and P-odd partial waves in such decays as $B_s \to J/\psi \phi$ and $B \to J/\psi K^*$. This method is relevant to the separation of contributions of CP-even and CP-odd final states in $B_s$ decays, and hence to the measurement of a possible lifetime difference between mass eigenstates. (2) The enhancement $\Delta \Gamma (\Lambda_b)$ of the $\Lambda_b$ decay rate due to four-fermion processes is calculated in terms of the $\Sigma_b^* - \Sigma_b$ hyperfine splitting, the $B^* - B$ hyperfine splitting, and the $B$ meson decay constant $f_B$. Despite a relatively large hyperfine splitting observed by the DELPHI Collaboration, the mechanism falls far short of being able to explain the observed enhancement.Comment: 11 pages, latex, no figures. Presented at 10th La Thuile Rencontre. DESY preprint no. corrected in headin