CP Violation in B Decays at the Tevatron

Abstract

Between 1992 to 1996, the CDF and D0 detectors each collected data samples exceeding 100 pb^{-1} of p\bar{p} collisions at sqrt{s}=1.8 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron. These data sets led to a large number of precision measurements of the properties of B hadrons including lifetimes, masses, neutral B meson flavor oscillations, and relative branching fractions, and to the discovery of the B_c meson. Perhaps the most exciting result was the first look at the CP violation parameter sin(2beta) using the world's largest sample of fully reconstructed B^0/bar{B}^0 -> J/psi K^0_S decays. A summary of this result is presented here. In the year 2000, the Tevatron will recommence p\bar{p} collisions with an over order of magnitude expected increase in integrated luminosity (1 fb^{-1} per year). The CDF and D0 detectors will have undergone substantial upgrades, particularly in the tracking detectors and the triggers. With these enhancements, the Tevatron B physics program will include precision measurements of sin(2beta) and B^0_s flavor oscillations, as well as studies of rare B decays that are sensitive to new physics. The studies of B^0_s mesons will be particularly interesting as this physics will be unique to the Tevatron during the first half of the next decade.