Flavor Physics and the TeV Scale

This monograph treats the usefulness of flavor physics as probes of the TeV scale, with the aim of providing a timely introduction to the emerging LHC era. By concentrating only with the TeV scale connection, a large part of the B factory output can be bypassed. The emphasis here is on loop-induced processes, which enables the probing of virtual TeV scale physics through quantum processes. Two-thirds of the book is concerned with b s or bs bs transitions. It takes an experimental perspective resulting in selecting processes, rather than the theories or models, as the basis to explore flavor physics as probe of the TeV scale. The guiding principle has been, unless it can be identified as the smoking gun, it is better to stick to the simplest (rather than elaborate) explanation of an effect that requires New Physics. Luckily, focusing on heavy flavor as a probe of TeV scale physics, these technicalities can be engaged, thus acknowledging their beauty, but avoiding getting ensnared by them, while aiming for the deeper, higher scale physics that such probes afford. This tracts orinated as a plenary talk at the SUSY 2007 conference in Karlsruhe, Germany.