The strange decays of heavy quarks: the long and winding road that leads to new physics

Parrott, William George (2022) The strange decays of heavy quarks: the long and winding road that leads to new physics. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

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Abstract

This thesis presents the results of lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) calculations of hadronic matrix elements for pseudoscalar to pseudoscalar semileptonic decays involving c → s and b → s weak interaction transitions. We calculate scalar, vector and tensor form factors, and use them to test the Standard Model. Most prominently, we use D → Klv form factors, calculated on the lattice in the Highly Improved Staggered Quark formalism, to calculate a much more precise determination of the Cabbibo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element |Vcs|, allowing for more stringent tests of CKM unitarity. We also calculate branching fractions and other experimentally measurable quantities for the rare B → Kll decay, finding significant tension with experiment in this one-loop level process, which is sensitive to physics beyond the Standard Model.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Qualification Level: Doctoral
Subjects: Q Science > Q Science (General)
Q Science > QC Physics
Colleges/Schools: College of Science and Engineering > School of Physics and Astronomy
Supervisor's Name: Bouchard, Dr. Chris and Davies, Professor Christine
Date of Award: 2022
Depositing User: Theses Team
Unique ID: glathesis:2022-83083
Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
Date Deposited: 18 Aug 2022 08:50
Last Modified: 18 Aug 2022 08:52
Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.83083
URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/83083
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