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.

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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