LHCb

LHCb (Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment) is a detector at CERN's Large Hadron Collider designed to study decays of hadrons containing bottom (beauty) quarks, and to a lesser extent charm quarks. Its primary aim is to understand CP violation and the matter–antimatter asymmetry of the universe, and to search for signs of new physics in rare decays.

The detector is a forward spectrometer optimized for the forward production of beauty hadrons. It covers a pseudorapidity range of about 2 to 5 and employs a dipole magnet for momentum measurement. The experimental apparatus includes a high-precision Vertex Locator (VELO) near the interaction point, tracking stations, two Ring Imaging Cherenkov detectors (RICH1 and RICH2) for particle identification, calorimeters, and a muon system.

LHCb has made significant contributions to heavy-flavor physics, including measurements of CP violation and the CKM matrix parameters such as the gamma angle, and studies of rare decays like b → sℓℓ. The collaboration also reported the observation of exotic hadrons, including the pentaquark states Pc(4380)+ and Pc(4450)+ in Λb decays. Results on lepton-flavor universality tests, including RK and RK*, have generated interest in possible physics beyond the Standard Model.

LHCb began data taking during Run 1 (2010–2012) at 7–8 TeV and continued in Run 2 at 13 TeV from 2015 onward. Upgrades have enhanced its capabilities: Upgrade I introduced a fully software-based trigger and detector enhancements to operate at higher luminosity, with further plans for additional upgrades to increase data samples and precision. The collaboration includes researchers from institutions worldwide and continues to advance heavy-flavor phenomenology.