CP-symmetry is a symmetry obtained by a combination of the C-symmetry and the P-symmetry. When it was found that both these symmetries were violated individually, it looked plausible that a combination of the two would be preserved by all physical laws. Simply stated, the preservation of CP-symmetry by all physical phenomena would mean that all physical laws preserve form when a charge-inversion transformation (positive to negative and vice-versa inversion of electric charges) and a parity-inversion transformation ('left' to 'right' and vice versa; inversion; or, simply the reversal of the coordinate axis in a Cartesian coordinate system used to describe the system under consideration) are done simultaneously. But to the dismay of physicists, it was discovered in 1964 by the the group of Cristenson, Cronin, Fitch and Turlay in a kaon decay experiment that this symmetry too was violated, and only a weaker version of the symmetry could be preserved by physical phenomena, which was CPT-symmetry. Because of the CPT-symmetry, a violation of the CP-symmetry is equivalent to a violation of the T-symmetry. C-symmetry means the symmetry of physical laws over a charge-inversion transformation. ... P-symmetry is simply the spatial symmetry exhibited during a reflection. ... Electric charge is a fundamental FATTY STASHEconserved property of some subatomic particles, which determines their electromagnetic interactions. ... Transformation has two meanings in molecular biology: Transformation is the genetic alteration of a cell resulting from the introduction, uptake and expression of foreign DNA. Transformation is also the process by which normal cells are converted into cells that will continue to divide without limit. ... In physics, a parity transformation (also called parity) is the simultaneous flip in the sign of all spatial coordinates: A 3×3 matrix representation of P would have determinant equal to -1, and hence cannot reduce to a rotation. ... Cartesian means relating to the French mathematician and philosopher Descartes, who, among other things, worked to merge algebra and Euclidean geometry. ... 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... KAON (Karlsruhe ontology) is an ontology infrastructure developed by the University of Karlsruhe and the Research Center for Information Technologies in Karlsruhe. ... CPT-symmetry is a fundamental symmetry of physical laws under transformations that involve the inversions of charge, parity and time simultaneously. ...

The BaBar Experiment provided definitive experimental evidence of CP-violation, using B mesons. In the field of particle physics BaBar is an international collaboration of more than 550 physicists and engineers investigating CP-violation effects using the BaBar particle detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator, Stanford, CA, USA. If the CP symmetry holds, the decay rate of B meson particles and their anti... In particle physics, a meson is a strongly interacting boson, that is, it is a hadron with integral spin. ...

The electroweak theory is known to violate the CP-symmetry by a complex phase in the CKM matrix. A necessary condition for the appearance of the complex phase, and thus for CP-violation, is the presence of at least three generations of quarks. In physics, the electroweak theory presents a unified description of two of the four fundamental forces of nature: electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force. ... In the standard model of particle physics the Cabibbo Kobayashi Maskawa matrix (CKM matrix, sometimes earlier called KM matrix) is a unitary matrix which contains information on the mismatch of quantum states of quarks when they propagate freely and when they take part in the weak interactions. ...

There is no experimentally known violation of the CP-symmetry in Quantum Chromodynamics. The strong CP problem is the question of why no such violation is detected even though the theory in principle allows for it. Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is the physical theory describing one of the fundamental forces, the strong interaction. ... In particle physics, the strong CP problem is the puzzling question why Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) does not seem to break the CP-symmetry. ...

External references

• [1] (http://www.arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/9712475) I. Bigi, CP violation, an essential mystery in Nature's grand design. Invited lecture given at the XXV ITEP Winterschoold of Physics, February 18-27, 1997, Moscow, Russia, at 'Frontiers in Contemporary Physics', May 11-16, 1997, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA, and at the International School of Physics 'Enrico Fermi', CXXXVII Course 'Heavy Flavour Physics: A Probe of Nature's Grand Design', Varenna, Italy, July 8-18, 1997. hep-ph/9803479.

Textbooks

• Branco, G. C. and Lavoura, L. and Silva, J. P., CP violation. Clarendon Press, Oxford (1999). ISBN 0-198-50399-7.
• Bigi, I. and Sanda, A., CP violation. Cambridge University Press (1999). ISBN 0-521-44349-0.