"I Know She Invented Fire, but What Has She Done Recently?" or "I Have Come to Praise Ch., not Bury Her!" or `On the Second Renaissance of Charm Physics'

Abstract

$D^0$ oscillations, for which the $B$ factories have found strong evidence, provide a new stage for our search for New Physics in heavy flavour dynamics. While the theoretical verdict on the observed values of $x_D$ and $y_D$ is ambiguous -- they could be fully generated by SM dynamics, yet could contain also a sizable contribution from New Physics -- such oscillations can enhance the observability of \cp violation driven by New Physics. After emphasizing the unique role of charm among up-type quarks, I sketch the \cp phenomenology for partial widths and final state distributions.