TASI 2022 lectures on flavor physics

Abstract

These notes correspond to the lectures on flavor physics given at TASI 2022. After a basic introduction to the concept of flavor in the Standard Model and beyond, we discuss the determination of the flavor parameters in the Standard Model, i.e. the quark and lepton masses as well as the CKM matrix elements. The Standard Model flavor puzzle and possible ways to address it are briefly mentioned as well. Finally, we discuss in more detail a particular class of flavor-changing processes that have played a prominent role in flavor physics in the past several years: B meson decays. We cover both charged current tree-level decays, which are typically used for the determination of CKM matrix elements, as well as neutral current loop-level decays, which are sensitive probes of new physics.