Why are there three generations? What mechanisms underlie the pattern of quark masses, mixing angles, and CP violation? The B meson's relatively large mass, yet long lifetime, gives it a special role in unraveling these mysteries, as well as many other aspects of flavor physics and physics beyond the Standard Model. Recently, B mesons have begun to be produced copiously at both e+e- and hadron colliders, leading to the establishment of CP violation in B decays, and a wealth of additional results. The 2002 SLAC Summer Institute will review the basic physics, the rapid recent progress, and the exciting future prospects for studies of B mesons, charmed particles and kaons, which complement each other very nicely. 

General Information

The 30th SLAC Summer Institute was held in the Panofsky Auditorium at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center from August 5 - 16, 2002.  The Institute began with seven days of pedagogical lectures designed for beginning post-doctoral experimentalists and theorists and advanced graduate students. It concluded with a three day Topical Conference. The daily schedule consisted of lectures each morning and study and discussion sessions every afternoon. Social activities and student poster sessions were planned for the evenings, and there was a tour to Lick Observatory mid-Institute.

The SLAC Summer Institute is hosted by Stanford University and co-sponsored by the US Department of Energy and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. SLAC is located west of the Stanford Campus and approximately 33 miles south of San Francisco.

The proceedings is available from the eConf Proceedings Archive