Particle Horns of Plenty

The proton colliders from the previous chapter reached high energies and discovered new particles, but only in very small numbers. Precision measurements to determine their properties required much higher collision rates with point-like particles. The electron-positron colliders LEP and SLC measured many properties of the Z boson that indicate only three generations of elementary particles exist. After upgrading LEP with superconducting cavities, W bosons could be produced and helped to pin down many properties of the standard model of particle physics. B-factories produced copious numbers of B mesons that allowed to investigate their decay, which is closely linked to the preponderance of matter over antimatter in our universe.