The Statistical Mechanics of Membranes

The fluctuations of two-dimensional extended objects membranes is a rich and exciting field with many solid results and a wide range of open issues. We review the distinct universality classes of membranes, determined by the local order, and the associated phase diagrams. After a discussion of several physical examples of membranes we turn to the physics of crystalline (or polymerized) membranes in which the individual monomers are rigidly bound. We discuss the phase diagram with particular attention to the dependence on the degree of self-avoidance and anisotropy. In each case we review and discuss analytic, numerical and experimental predictions of critical exponents and other key observables. Particular emphasis is given to the results obtained from the renormalization group epsilon-expansion. The resulting renormalization group flows and fixed points are illustrated graphically. The full technical details necessary to perform actual calculations are presented in the Appendices. We then turn to a discussion of the role of topological defects whose liberation leads to the hexatic and fluid universality classes. We finish with conclusions and a discussion of promising open directions for the future.Comment: 75 LaTeX pages, 36 figures. To appear in Physics Reports in the Proceedings of RG2000, Taxco, 199

CP-violation and unitarity triangle test of the Standard Model

Phenomenological issues of the CP violation in the quark sector of the Standard Model are discussed. We consider quark mixing in the SM, standard and Wolfenstein parametrization of the $CKM$ mixing matrix and unitarity triangle. We discuss the phenomenology of the CP violation in $K^{0}_{L}$ and $B_{d}^{0} (\bar B_{d}^{0})$-decays. The standard unitarity triangle fit of the existing data is discussed. In appendix A we compare the $K^{0}\leftrightarrows \bar K^{0}$, $B_{d,s}^{0}\leftrightarrows \bar B^{0}_{d,s}$ etc oscillations with neutrino oscillations. In Appendix B we derive the evolution equation for $M^{0}- \bar M^{0}$ system in the Weisskopf-Wigner approximation.Comment: On the basis of the lectures given to the students of SISSA (Trieste) in 200