High precision measurements of weak neutral current and charged current processes and of the properties of the Z and W bosons have established the standard electroweak model as correct down to a distance scale of 10-16 cm, and are a sensitive probe of possible underlying physics. In this book, all aspects of the program are considered in detail, including the structure of the standard model, radiative corrections, high precision experiments, and their implications. The major classes of experiments are surveyed, covering the experiments themselves, the data analysis, results, and prospects.This volume is a detailed reference for theoretical and experimental researchers, as well as an introductory text for advanced students.

This is the first book to discuss the search for new physics in charged leptons, neutrons, and quarks in one coherent volume. The area of indirect searches for new physics is highly topical; though no new physics particles have yet been observed directly at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the methods described in this book will provide researchers with the necessary tools to keep searching for new physics. It describes the lines of research that attempt to identify quantum effects of new physics particles in low-energy experiments, in addition to detailing the mathematical basis and theoretical and phenomenological methods involved in the searches, whilst making a clear distinction between model-dependent and model-independent methods employed to make predictions. This book will be a valuable guide for graduate students and early-career researchers in particle and high energy physics who wish to learn about the techniques used in modern predictions of new physics effects at low energies, whilst also serving as a reference for researchers at other levels. Key features: • Takes an accessible, pedagogical approach suitable for graduate students and those seeking an overview of this new and fast-growing field • Illustrates common theoretical trends seen in different subfields of particle physics • Valuable both for researchers in the phenomenology of elementary particles and for experimentalists

This 2nd edition is an extensive update of "B Decays?. The revisions are necessary because of the extensive amount of new data and new theoretical ideas. This book reviews what is known about b-quark decays and also looks at what can be learned in the future.The importance of this research area is increasing, as evidenced by the approval of the luminosity upgrade for CESR and the asymmetric B factories at SLAC and KEK, and the possibility of experiments at hadron colliders.The key experimental observations made thus far, measurement of the lifetimes of the different B species, B0-B0 mixing, the discovery of ?Penguin? mediated decays, and the extraction of the CKM matrix elements Vub and Vcb from semileptonic decays, as well as more mundane results, are described in great detail by the experimentalists who have been closely involved with making the measurements. Theoretical progress in understanding b-quark decays using HQET and lattice gauge techniques are described by theorists who have developed and used these techniques.Synthesizing the experimental and theoretical information, several articles discuss the implications for the ?Standard Model? and how further tests can be done using measurements of CP violation in the B system.

The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics has withstood thus far every attempt by experimentalists to show that it does not describe data. We discuss the SM in some detail, focusing on the mechanism of fermion mixing, which represents one of its most intriguing aspects. We discuss how this mechanism can be tested in b-quark decays, and how b decays can be used to extract information on physics beyond the SM. We review experimental techniques in b physics, focusing on recent results and highlighting future prospects. Particular attention is devoted to recent results from b decays into a hadron, a lepton and an anti-lepton, that show discrepancies with the SM predictions — the so-called B-physics anomalies — whose statistical significance has been increasing steadily. We discuss these experiments in a detailed manner, and also provide theoretical interpretation of these results in terms of physics beyond the SM.

Contents: Experiment:Hadron Production in High Energy Collisions of Leptons with Nucleons and Nuclei (N Schmitz)Particle Production in Continuum e+e- Annihilation at High Energy (M Derrick & Abachi)Selected Results on Multihadron Production at ISR Energies (R Campanini)Hadron-Nuclear Interactions (W D Walker & P C Bhat)Diffractive Multiparticle Production (K Goulianos)Bose-Einstein Correlations: From Statistics to Dynamics (W A Zajc)Multihadron Events in Cosmic Rays (T Stanev & G B Yodh)Theory:The Pomeron in QCD (A R White)Problems in Hadronization Physics (B Andersson)The Concept of Inelasticity in High Energy Reactions (G Wilk)Dual Parton Model (A Capella et al.)Application of the Methods of Quantum Optics to Multihadron Production (G N Fowler & R M Weiner)A Unified Physical Picture of Multiparticle Emission in pp and e+e- Collisions (T T Chou & C N Yang)Branching Processes in Multiparticle Production (R C Hwa)Multiparticle Production at High Energy and Superclustering Processes (C C Shih)“Fireball” Models and Statistical Methods in Multiparticle Production Processes (T C Meng)Toward a Statistical Description of Deconfinement Transition (P Carruthers & I Sarcevic) Readership: High energy physicists. Keywords:Hadron Production;High Energy Collisions;Bose-Einstein Correlations;Pomeron;Hadronization Physics