No Arabic abstract
Three possibilities for the origin of CP violation are discussed: (1) the Standard Model in which all CP violation is due to one parameter in the CKM matrix, (2) the superweak model in which all CP violation is due to new physics and (3) the Standard Model plus new physics. A major goal of B physics is to distinguish these possibilities. CP violation implies time reversal violation (TRV) but direct evidence for TRV is difficult to obtain.
Solutions of the Strong CP Problem based on the spontaneous breaking of CP must feature a non-generic structure and simultaneously explain a coincidence between a priori unrelated CP-even and CP-odd mass scales. We show that these properties can emerge from gauge invariance and a CP-conserving, but otherwise generic, physics at the Planck scale. In our scenarios no fundamental scalar is introduced beyond the Standard Model Higgs doublet, and CP is broken at naturally small scales by a confining non-abelian dynamics. This approach is remarkably predictive: robustness against uncontrollable UV corrections to the QCD topological angle requires one or more families of vector-like quarks below a few $10$s of TeV, hence potentially accessible at colliders. Because CP violation is communicated to the SM at these super-soft scales, our solution of the Strong CP Problem is not spoiled by the presence of heavy new states motivated by other puzzles in physics beyond the Standard Model. In addition, these models generically predict a dark sector that may lead to interesting cosmological signatures.
We derive sufficient conditions that guarantee a robust solution of the strong CP problem in theories with spontaneous CP violation, and introduce a class of models satisfying these requirements. In the simplest scenarios the dominant contribution to the topological angle arises at 3-loop order in the Yukawa couplings. A variety of realizations are possible on a warped extra dimension, which can simultaneously address the Planck-TeV hierarchy. Experimental signatures of this approach to the strong CP problem include flavor violation and vector-like partners of the top or bottom quarks.
Precision tests of the Kobayashi-Maskawa model of CP violation are discussed, pointing out possible signatures for other sources of CP violation and for new flavor-changing operators. The current status of the most accurate tests is summarized.
The prospects of measuring the leptonic angles and CP-odd phases at a neutrino factory are discussed in two scenarios: 1) three active neutrinos as indicated by the present ensemble of atmospheric plus solar data; 2) three active plus one sterile neutrino when the LSND signal is also taken into account. For the latter we develop one and two mass dominance approximations. The appearance of wrong sign muons in long baseline experiments and tau leptons in short baseline ones provides the best tests of CP-violation in scenarios 1) and 2), respectively.
After listing basic properties of the Standard Model (SM) that play the crucial role in the field of flavour and CP violation, we discuss the following topics: 1) CKM matrix and the unitarity triangle. 2) Theoretical framework in a non-technical manner, classifying various extentions of the SM. 3) Particle-Antiparticle mixing and various types of CP violation. 4) Standard analysis of the unitarity triangle. 5) Strategies for the determination of the angles alpha, beta and gamma in non-leptonic B decays. 6) The rare decays K^+ -> pi^+ nu bar nu and K_L -> pi^0 nu bar nu 7) Models with minimal flavour violation (MFV). 8) Models with new complex phases, addressing in particular possible signals of new physics in the B -> pi K data and their implications for rare K and B decays. A personal shopping list for the rest of this decade closes these lectures.