Experimental HEP Seminar

Studying Radiative Quarkonium Decays in Experiment

Bryan Fulsom

SLAC

A heavy quark and its anti-quark counterpart bound by the strong force form a system known as “quarkonium”. Phenomenologically analogous to the hydrogen atom, theorists have been able to make many accurate predictions about the properties of the particles in this system. This area has experienced an incredible renaissance thanks to experimental results from the B-Factory experiments, BaBar and Belle. The “X(3872)” particle was the first of a dozen recent quarkonium-like discoveries that do not fit into the well-established framework, hinting at a new spectroscopy of bound quark states. These discoveries, and several first observations and precision measurements of conventional quarkonium states, challenge our understanding of how quarks interact via the strong force. This talk will focus on experimental results in this area, with particular emphasis on radiative transitions, and the BaBar and ATLAS experiments.