Our current understanding of the fundamental building blocks of the Universe, summarised by the Standard Model of particle physics, is incomplete. For example, it fails to explain why we do not see equal, or almost equal, numbers of particles and their antiparticle partners. To explain this asymmetry requires, among other effects, a mechanism known as charge-parity (CP) violation that causes differences between the rates at which particles and antiparticles decay. CP violation is seen in systems containing bottom and strange quarks, but not in those with up, charm or top quarks. This thesis describes searches for particle-antiparticle asymmetries in the decay rates of charmed mesons. No evidence of CP violation is found. With current sensitivities, an asymmetry large enough to observe probably could not be explained by the Standard Model. Instead an explanation could come from new physics, for example contributions from supersymmetric or other undiscovered heavy particles. In the thesis, the development of new techniques to search for these asymmetries is described. They are applied to data from the LHCb experiment at CERN to make precise measurements of asymmetries in the D^+->K^-K^+pi^+ decay channel. This is the most promising charged D decay for CP violation searches.

CP violation is a well-established phenomenon in particle physics, but until 2001 it was only observed in kaons. In the last decade, several matter-antimatter asymmetries have been observed in neutral B mesons in line with the expectations of the Standard Model of the weak interaction. Direct CP violation is also expected in the decay rates of charged B+ mesons versus that of B- mesons, though the greatest effects are present in a decay that occurs just twice in 10 million decays. Such rarity requires huge samples to study and this is exactly what the LHC, and its dedicated B-physics experiment LHCb provide. This thesis presents an analysis of the first two years of LHCb data. The author describes the first observation of the rare decay, B- → DK-, D → π-K+ and the first observation of direct CP violation in this B decay. The work constitutes essential information on the experiment’s measurement of a fundamental parameter of the theory and stands as a benchmark against which subsequent analyses of this type will be compared.

This book highlights two essential analyses of data collected during the LHCb experiment, based on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The first comprises the first observation and studies of matter-antimatter asymmetries in two three-body b-baryon decays, paving the way for more precise measurements of the relatively unknown decay properties of b-baryon decays. The second is an analysis of a charged B meson decay to three charged pions, where previously large matter-antimatter asymmetries were observed in a model-independent analysis. Here a model of the decay amplitude is constructed using the unitarity-conserving ‘K-matrix’ model for the scalar contributions, so as to gain an understanding of how the previously observed matter-antimatter asymmetries arise; further, the model’s construction yields the most precise and comprehensive study of this decay mode to date.

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.