B Decays, the Unitarity Triangle, and the Universe

Abstract

A review is given of recent developments in the physics of flavor. Current constraints on the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix are discussed and related to the recent measurements of epsilon'/epsilon, sin(2beta) and K+ -> pi+ nu nubar. A brief review is given of the connection between CP violation in B decays and electroweak baryogenesis. Finally, there is an extensive discussion of how present and proposed experiments in K and B physics can constrain the pattern of flavor changing processes at low energies and, one hopes, eventually provide unambiguous evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model.

Comments: 25 pages, 3 EPS figures; to appear in the Proceedings of the XIX International Symposium on Lepton and Photon Interactions at High Energies; portions of article reformatted to conform to guidelines for published proceedings