Flavour Physics and CP Violation

Abstract

An introductory overview of the Standard Model description of flavour is presented. The main emphasis is put on present tests of the quark-mixing matrix structure and the phenomenological determination of its parameters. Special attention is given to the experimental evidences of CP violation and their important role in our understanding of flavour dynamics.

Comments: Updated version of the lectures given at the 2011 CERN - Latin-American School of High-Energy Physics (Natal, Brasil, 23 March - 5 April 2011)