RICHARD K. YAMAMOTO, Professor
of Physics
Research Interests
Professor Yamamoto's primary interests in
physics lie in the realm of experimental elementary
particle physics, in particular, the study of leptons and quarks
and their interactions. These studies are
carried out at the Stanford
Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford University where
electrons are made to collide with
positrons to create various leptons and particles consisting of
quarks. These objects are studied directly
or through their decays. Recent studies
to reconfirm the validity of the standard model of particle physics
were carried out through the production and
decay of the Z boson that mediates the
weak interactions. These studies are now near completion and the
current focus is on the study of CP violation in B meson
decays in the BaBar
experiment.
This effect, observed in K meson decays and
expected to be much larger in B meson
decays, goes against our intuition; a process occurs at different
rates from its charge-conjugated (C)
and parity-conjugated (equivalent to mirror-imaged)
(P) process. This violation in CP symmetry has been observed
in the weak interactions only, and the study
of this phenomenon may provide information
on the bounds of validity of the standard model, among many other
things, such as why we have not been able
to observe it in strong interactions. One
possible explanation for the imbalance of particles over anti-particles
in the present Universe requires CP
violation in the strong interactions.
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Biographical Sketch
Selected Publications
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