From 18 to 22 September, Santiago de Compostela will host the 12th edition of the International Workshop on the CKM Unitarity Triangle, in which dozens of experts in the field of quark flavour, i.e. the attributes that distinguish each of the six types of these elementary particles, will participate.

The workshop will address both experimental and theoretical issues surrounding the neutron, the kaon, the charm and beauty hadron, the top quark and the Higgs that violates the leptonic flavour. The conference, promoted by the IGFAE staff, counts in the organising committee with the centre’s researchers Jeremy Dalseno, Diego Martínez Santos and Claire Prouvé. In charge of coordinating the workshop is Veronika Chobanova, a researcher at the University of A Coruña who previously developed her career at the IGFAE.

During the four-day meeting, the Hospedería San Martiño Pinario will host several plenary sessions and meetings of the seven working groups established for the workshop.

The CKM Unitarity Triangle

The CKM matrix is named after the names of the scientists who introduced it: Nicola Cabibbo, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa. According to the Standard Model of Particle Physics, the CKM is an unitary matrix that contains the information about the probability of change in the flavour of a quark caused by the intensity of the weak interaction. From a technical perspective, it can specify the difference in the quantum states of quarks when they propagate freely and when they participate in the weak interaction.

This information is key to understanding CP symmetry violation, a fact that can explain the imbalance between matter and antimatter.

Find more info about the Workshop in the Indico event webpage.