Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix

We shall return to the question of the Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix in Chapter 18. We shall also discuss the intriguing question as to whether the SM can provide an explanation of CP violating phenomena in Chapter 19. 

Some of these topics are covered in other chapters (for energy levels, see Chapters 11 and 12 for Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements and CP violation, see Chapters 18 and 19 for structure functions, see Chapters 16 and 17). Here we discuss the discovery of particles with heavy flavours, their hfetimes, decays, mixing and other properties. For more detailed discussions, we refer to the specialized literature (see e.g. Ellis and Kernan, 1990, Kiihn et cd., 1989 and references therein). 

Fig. 13.13. Quark transitions in the standard model. The Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are approximated by Cabibbo angle factors.

In strong and electromagnetic interactions, hadronic flavor is conserved, i.e. the conversion of a quark of one flavor (d, u, s, c, 6, t) into a quark of another flavor is forbidden. In the Standard Model, the weak interactions violate these conservation laws in a manner described by the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mixing (see the section Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa Mixing Matrix ). The way in which these conservation laws are violated is tested as follows ... 

The unitarity of the three generation Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix V implies the relationship... 

Although the extension from Cabibbo mixing, which involves a 2 x 2 matrix, to KM mixing with its 3 x 3 matrix may seem inconsequential, there is, in fact, a fundamental difference connected with CP violation, as was stressed by Kobayashi and Maskawa in their original paper. 

---