Physical Society Colloquium

I will discuss the phenomenon of asymmetries under the combined transformation of charge conjugation and parity (CP), and explain the consequences of these asymmetries in particle physics and cosmology. I will then discuss the importance of measuring violations of CP symmetry in the B meson system, and explain why B decays to charmonium plus kaon final states provide the best measurement of the CP violation parameter sin (2beta). I will focus on how such events are identified using the BaBar detector at SLAC, and on our recent measurement of sin (2beta).

Wednesday, February 13th 2002, 15:30
Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, Boardroom (room 104)