CP violation in meson decays

Abstract

This is a written version of a series of lectures aimed at graduate students in the field of (theoretical and experimental) high energy physics. The main topics covered are: (i) The flavor sector of the Standard Model and the Kobayashi-Maskawa mechanism of CP violation; (ii) Formalism and theoretical interpretation of CP violation in meson decays; (iii) K decays; (iv) D decays; (v) B decays: b -> c c-bar s, b -> s s-bar s, b -> u u-bar d and b -> c u-bar s, u c-bar s; (vi) CP violation as a probe of new physics and, in particular, of supersymmetry.Comment: 67 pages, 7 figures; Lectures given at the `Third CERN-CLAF School of High Energy Physics', Malargue (Argentina) 3/2005, and at the Les Houches Summer School (Session LXXXIV) on `Particle Physics Beyond the Standard Model,' Les Houches (France) 8/200