This thesis documents studies of CP violation in B^± to [K_S⁰h⁺h⁻]_DK^±, (h = π/K) decays using data taken by the LHCb experiment during 2011, and the first measurement of γ to be made at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), γ = (45+43-38) degrees. Also included is a study of D⁰ to K_S⁰K^∓π^± decays using CLEO III and CLEO-c data, resulting in the first amplitude models to be published for these decays and a measurement of the ratio of their branching fractions.

Ce document résume et ordonne quelques dix années de recherche de son auteur dans le domaine des mesures de précision électrofaibles. Le lecteur y trouvera la description de mesures d'observables de quarks lourds produits au pôle du boson Z et étudiés par le détecteur ALEPH auprès du collisionneur électron-positron LEP jusqu'à des analyses phénoménologiques des données de physique des saveurs conduites au sein du groupe CKMfitter. Une large partie de ce document est consacrée aux travaux non encore publiés de conception, de tests, de production, d'installation et de mise en œuvre des dispositifs électroniques qui équipent le détecteur de pied de gerbes du calorimètre électromagnétique de l'expérience LHCb auprès du LHC.

A central goal of flavour physics is a precise determination of the elements of the CKM matrix, which quantifies the strength of charged-current weak interactions between quarks. Of particular interest is the angle γ in the 'b-d' unitarity triangle parameterisation of the CKM matrix. One of the most promising methods to determine γ directly is to measure CP violation in interfering B±->DK± decays, where D indicates a coherent superposition of D0 and D0bar, both of which decay to the same final state. When using this method it is essential to determine the hadronic decay parameters of the D precisely in order to reduce the systematic uncertainties on the measurement of γ. One such parameter is the strong-phase difference between D0 and D0bar decays, which must be accurately known across the entire kinematic phase space. In this thesis we present measurements related to the determination of γ at both the CLEO-c experiment at Cornell University and the LHCb experiment at CERN. Firstly, we describe a model-independent determination of the D->KsKK strong-phase difference using 818pb-1 of quantum-correlated D0-D0bar data collected by CLEO-c at the ψ(3770) resonance. We reconstruct D->KsKK decays tagged with a variety of final states. By studying these decays we determine the weighted cosine and sine of the strong-phase difference in bins across the Dalitz plane. We run simulations to estimate the impact of these measurements on a determination of γ using B±->D(KsKK)K± decays. The resulting uncertainty on γ due to the CLEO-c inputs is between 3.2° and 3.9°, depending on how the Dalitz plane is binned. Furthermore, we present a model-independent measurement of the CP content of the decay D0->KsKK in the kinematic region of the φ->KK resonance. The fraction of CP-odd events in this region is 0.76 or higher at the 90% C.L. We also present an analysis of data recorded by LHCb in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.5pb-1. We reconstruct the decays B±->D(Kπ)h± and B±->D(KK)h±, where h± indicates either K± or π±. Although there are not enough events in this dataset to measure γ, we are able to measure other observables related to CP violation in the B±->Dh± system. We measure B(DK,Fav)/B(Dπ,Fav), the ratio of the branching fraction of B±->D(Kπ)K± to that of B±->D(Kπ)π±, to be 0.066 ± 0.005 ± 0.004, and B(DK,CP)/B(Dπ,CP), the ratio of the branching fraction of B±->D(KK)K± to that of B±->D(KK)π±, to be 0.093 ± 0.019 ± 0.005. We determine several CP asymmetries: A(CP+,DK), the CP asymmetry in B±->D(KK)K± decays, is measured as 0.06 ± 0.17 ± 0.07; A(CP+,Dπ), the CP asymmetry in B±->D(KK)π± decays, is found to be 0.009 ± 0.042 ± 0.011; and A(Fav,DK), the CP asymmetry in B±->D(Kπ)K± decays, is measured as -0.109 ± 0.085 ± 0.019. Finally we calculate R(CP+), the ratio of the branching fraction of B±->D(KK)K± to that of B±->D(Kπ)K±, to be 1.41 ± 0.31 ± 0.11. These results indicate that LHCb is in a strong position to make a world-leading measurement of γ with a larger data sample.

Two analyses are performed using data collected by the LHCb experiment during 2011. Both consider decays of charged B mesons reconstructed in the π±μ+μ− final state. Decays involving dimuons provide an experimentally clean signature, even in the high-background environment of the √s = 7 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The first analysis measures the CP asymmetry of B±→Ψπ± decays using 0.37 fb-1 of data, where the dimuon decays of two resonances are considered, J/ψ→μ+μ− and ψ(2S)→μ+μ−. The branching fraction is measured relative to the Cabibbo favoured B±→ΨK± mode. The second analysis uses 1 fb-1 of data to make the first observation of the non-resonant B±→π±μ+μ− decay. The branching fraction is measured relative to that of B±→K±μ+μ−, and measurements of the CP asymmetry and the ratio of CKM matrix elements Vtd/Vts are obtained. The branching fractions of the decays of interest are found to be B(B±→J/ψ π±) = (3.88 ± 0.11 ± 0.15) x 10-5, B(B±→ψ(2S) π±) = (2.52 ± 0.26 ± 0.15) x 10-5 and B(B±→π±μ+μ−) = (2.48 + 0.57 −0.52 ± 0.17) x 10-8, where the first uncertainty is related to the statistical size of the sample and the second quantifies systematic effects. The measured CP asymmetries in these modes are A CP (J/ψ π) = 0.005 ± 0.027 ± 0.011, A CP (ψ(2S) π) = 0.048 ± 0.090 ± 0.011 and A CP (μμπ) = -0.045 ± 0.220 ± 0.066, with no evidence of direct CP violation seen. The ratio of matrix elements is measured as Vtd/Vts = 0.274 + 0.031 − 0.028 ± 0.008, which is in agreement with previous results.

LHCb is an experiment designed to make precision measurements of Charge- Parity violation in the B meson system. We report a measurement of the B± crosssection and production asymmetry, using B± → J/u K± decays collected at the LHCb detector in 2010 and 2011. Using 27.6 pb-1 of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy 7 TeV, we obtain a B± cross-section of [41.6 ± 0.6 (stat.) ± 3.0 (sys.) ± 4.2 (lumi.)] μb in the rapidity region 2 to 4.5. Using 371.1 pb-1 of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy 7 TeV, we obtain a B± production asymmetry of [-2.09 ± 1.20 ± 0.8 (CP) ]% in the same rapidity region. The Ring Imaging Cherenkov system of LHCb uses Hybrid photon detectors (HPDs) for single photon detection. This thesis summarises the use of ion feedback measurements as indicators of HPD vacuum quality.

LHCb is a high-precision experiment for the study of CP violation and rare decays in B physics. It has two Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) counters for particle identification. The RICH system uses Hybrid Photon Detectors (HPD) for single photon detection. This thesis describes tests performed on individual HPDs for quantum efficiency and vacuum quality. It then presents work done monitoring HPD vacuum quality through regular ion feedback measurements after they were mounted into the RICH. Also discussed is HPD vacuum degradation and how replacement and repair of deteriorated HPDs was implemented using data from the vacuum monitoring. Preparations for an upgrade to LHCb have started. The upgrade will extend the discovery potential of the LHCb by increasing the rate of data collection. This thesis presents particle identification and avour tagging studies using upgrade simulations. Flavour tagging using kaons was then reoptimised for upgrade conditions and this work is described with discussions of the results.

This thesis reports an analysis of 3.0fb^-1 of pp collision data collected by the LHCb experiment in 2011 and 2012. Decays of neutral B mesons to neutral D mesons and excited neutral kaons are reconstructed, because of their sensitivity to the CP-violating phase of the CKM matrix, γ.

Semileptonic B decays of the type Bq⁰→Dq⁻μ⁺ν (where Dq⁻→K⁻K⁺pie⁻) are selected and their lifetimes are corrected using a statistical simulation-based correction called the k-factor. Using 1 fb⁻¹ of LHCb data the B⁰ and Bs⁰ mixing frequencies are measured to be Deltamd = ( 0.503 ± 0.011 (stat) ± 0.013 (syst) ) ps⁻¹ and Deltams = ( 17.93 ± 0.22 (stat) ± 0.15 (syst) ) ps⁻¹. We exclude the null hypothesis of no mixing for the B⁰ and Bs⁰ by 5.8 and 13.0 standard deviations respectively. This is the first observation of Bs Bsbar mixing using only semileptonic B decays. The lepton flavour violating decay D⁰→eμ is searched for, using tagged D⁰ decays from D*→D⁰pie, and the measurement is normalised using D⁰→K⁻pie⁺ decays. No evidence is seen of an excess over the expected background and so a limit is placed B(D⁰→eμ) < 1.3×10⁻⁸ at a 90% confidence level using 3 fb⁻¹ of LHCb data. This improves the previous measurement by a factor of 20 and is the world's best measurement. Possible upgrades to the LHCb VELO detector are simulated and aspects of the upgraded detector are optimised to ensure that all tracks within the angular acceptance can be detected with high precision. Finally the simulated performance of the current and upgraded VELO detectors are compared.

This thesis presents measurements of the branching fractions of the charmless baryonic decays B(s) → p anti-p h+ h'-, where h(') denotes a kaon or a pion. Three new modes (B → p anti-p pi+ pi-, Bs → p anti-p K+ K- and Bs → p anti-p K+(-) pi-(+)) are observed for the first time and evidence is found for a fourth (B → p anti-p K+ K-). The inclusive branching fraction of B → p anti-p K+(-) pi-(+) is measured for the first time and the upper limit is set on the branching fraction of the Bs → p anti-p pi+ pi- decay. This represents the first observation of four-body charmless baryonic decays of a Bs meson and one of the first observations of baryonic Bs decays. The implementation of the real-time alignment of LHCb's vertex detector is also described. The novel real-time alignment and calibration strategy adopted by LHCb is essential to allow more stable data taking conditions and an optimal 'offline-quality' reconstruction to be performed at the trigger level, ensuring more efficient trigger selections and the possibility to perform physics analyses directly on the trigger output.

This thesis presents two measurements made using data collected by the LHCb detector, operating at the Large Hadron Collider accelerator at the CERN particle physics laboratory. The first is a measurement of the production rates of promptly produced D0, D+, Ds+, and D*+ open charm mesons, using data collected in 2015 at a proton-proton centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV. The second is a search for direct CP violation in two three-body decays of the Lambda_c charm baryon, pKK and ppipi, using data collected in 2011 at √s = 7 TeV and in 2012 at √s = 8 TeV. For each measurement, motivation and context are given from the standpoint of improving the theoretical understanding of the Standard Model and searching for signs of physics that cannot be explained by it, and then the various statistical analysis techniques used to extract physical quantities from the data are explained. The systematic limitations of the method are explored and quantified, and then the results are presented.