Topics in Kaon Physics

Abstract

In these lectures, we will treat some selected topics in the field of kaon physics. Today there is much activity in the field with about 250 experimentalists and many theorists engaged in many precise, incisive, and search oriented studies of Kaon decays. We will begin with a brief review of the properties of the kaon and follow with a discussion of “sources” (i. e., beams) of kaons that are currently used in experiments. Dynamical effects in the decays of the kaons which are important in current experiments will then be treated. This will be followed by a treatment of the KK mixing process and the phenomenon of CP non-conservation. The successful Kobayashi-Maskawa model for the weak charged current is presented and the predictions for this model in the area of CP violation are discussed.