D⁰ - D⁰bar mixing

by Zoltan LIGETI (Lawrence)

Friday 21 Feb 2003, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Zurich

TH Auditorium (CERN)

It is a common assertion that the Standard Model prediction for D⁰ - D⁰bar mixing is very small, making this process a sensitive probe of new physics. To regard a future discovery as a signal for new physics, we need high confidence that the Standard Model predictions lie significantly below the present limits. The main challenge in the Standard Model calculation of the mass and width difference in D⁰ - D⁰bar mixing is to estimate the size of SU(3) -breaking effects. We consider the possibility that phase-space effects may be the dominant source of SU(3) breaking. In particular, we explore whether the Standard Model mass and width differences may satisfy ΔΓ / 2Γ ~ 1% and ΔΓ >> Δm, in which case the sensitivity of D mixing to new physics would be substantially reduced.