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CDF is an experiment operating at the world's highest energy collider, the Tevatron. Collisions of 1 TeV protons on 1 TeV anti-protons occur every 396 ns and probe the structure of matter at scales of < 10-19m. The Tevatron , based at Fermilab in Chicago, is a unique facility and has been responsible for several of the major discoveries in particle physics in the last few years. |
In 1995 the top quark, the heaviest of the predicted quarks, was discovered by the CDF + D0 experiments. Its partner the bottom quark was discovered at Fermilab in 1977. In 1998, CDF discovered the last of the bound-state mesons predicted by the Standard Model - the Bc meson : an anti-bottom:charm quark combination. In 1999, CDF announced the first evidence for CP violation in the b quark system.
The CDF detector began a substantial upgrade in 1995 and resumed serious data taking in 2001. With this new data CDF is seeking to answer some of the remaining open questions in particle physics :
- Why is the top quark so heavy ? The Tevatron is the only facility where the top quark can be studied.
- Why is the universe dominated by matter and not anti-matter ? CDF will be able to measure CP violation in the B quark system using the worlds largest sample of B mesons and is the only facility capable of observing oscillations in the Bs system.
- Do the forces of nature unify ? CDF is searching for particles predicted by the theories which facilitate a unification of the forces e.g. super-symmetry.
- What is the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking ? CDF will be making precision electroweak measurements in the W boson sector to help elucidate this and is expected to improve the present limits on the mass of the Higgs boson.
Last Modified : 00:12:36 31 Aug 2005