"I Know She Invented Fire, But What Has She Done Recently?" -- On The Future Of Charm Physics

I. I. Bigi

Published 2006-08-07Version 1

Detailed studies of weak charm decays fill an important {\em future} role in high energy physics. Chief among them are: (i) validating the theoretical control achieved over hadronization as a worthwhile goal in its own right; (ii) calibrating our tools to saturate the discovery potential for New Physics in B decays; (iii) searching for New Physics in charm decays through hypothesis-generating research. The most promising area for the last item is a comprehensive study of \cp violation. Since we need a new \cp paradigm to implement baryogenesis, this is not an idle goal. Charm decays provide opportunities unique among {\em up-}type quarks. While items (i) and (ii) will be addressed in a meaningful way and hopefully completed in the next few years, item (iii) will presumably require statistics that can be accumulated only by LHCb and a Super-B factory.