October 13, 1999

The existence of CP violation, a fundamental process that favors particles over antiparticles, remains a crucial problem for both particle physics and cosmology. CP violation is necessary in cosmological models that yield a universe, such as the one we inhabit, in which matter dominates over antimatter. Only one CP violating process has been discovered, but the observed effect, within the context of current particle theory, is too small to provide the mechanism required by cosmology. Either the current theory is incomplete, or the CP violation required by cosmology has remained undetected. At Stanford, an international collaboration of particle physicists is assembling an accelerator and detector facility - the B Factory - in a race to resolve the mystery of CP violation. This talk will explore the physics of CP violation and how the B Factory experiment will address the unresolved questions. There will be a tour of the BaBar control room and, the maintenance schedule permitting, a tour of the detector. (Note added October 9: The detector is down for maintenance; there will be a tour.)

Visit the BaBar website by clicking here.

Doug Wright is an experimental high energy physicist. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton and joined LLNL in 1993. He has worked on and lead physics analysis and detector development for high energy physics experiments at SLAC, Fermilab, LLNL and CERN. Currently he is leading the LLNL effort for the B Factory, and studying the application of high energy physics to create new methods in radiography.

Click on each of the three thumbnails below for a full-size map image.

San Francisco Bay Area

Stanford/SLAC Area

Stanford Univ. Area

	Take Sand Hill Road east from I-280 or west from the Stanford University campus. Continue to the main SLAC entrance at 2575 Sand Hill Rd. After the guard shack, turn right and proceed past Building 41, the Administration & Engineering Building. Park in Lot G. Enter Building 41.
	The meeting is in Room 223, the "Yellow Room."