Some topics in heavy-quark physics

Selected problems in heavy quark physics are discussed. The wealth of research problems in this field of physics is stressed.

Some recent results and problems in the theory of particles containing heavy quarks ar reviewed.

Some recent discoveries in the spectroscopy of hadrons containing heavy quarks, and some of their theoretical interpretations, are reviewed.

We review the physics of heavy quark and quarkonium production in high energy hadronic collisions. We discuss the status of the theoretical calculations and compare the current results with the most recent measurements from the Tevatron collider experiments.

In this series of lectures the basic ideas of the $1/m_Q$ expansion in QCD ($m_Q$ is the mass of a heavy quark) are outlined. Applications to exclusive and inclusive decays are given.

Introductory lectures (delivered at TASI, June 1994) on heavy quarks and heavy quark effective field theory. Applications to inclusive semileptonic decays and to interactions with light mesons are covered in detail.

In the last few years, lattice QCD has made a dramatic progress in understanding the physics of hadrons containing heavy quarks, from the first principle. This review summarises the major achievements.

A short review of a few selected topics in Heavy Quark Effective Theory is given. Applications to exclusive decays are discussed.

Selected highlights of the theoretical developments reported at the 2004 Quark Matter conference are discussed, with emphasis on open issues.

This report is a combined version of two talks presented by the authors at the Edinburgh $b$-physics Workshop, December 1991. It presents the ideas of heavy quark symmetry and gives an introduction to some applications. The references indicate where to go for more information: they are not intended to be complete, nor do they necessarily refer to the original work on any particular subject.