Overview

The book constitutes a compact review of the applications of effective field theory methods in flavour physics, with emphasis on heavy quark physics. Some of the relevant applications are discussed to illustrate the method. It covers the full range of theoretical tools related to the application of the effective field theory idea: Starting from the weak interactions as an effective theory derived from the standard model, well-established methods such as heavy quark effective theory, the heavy quark mass expansion and chiral perturbation theory are addressed. Also more recent ideas such as QCD factorization and soft collinear effective theory are outlined. Finally the standard model itself is viewed as an effective theory, allowing a model-independent look at the results of the new physics. The book should be useful for the advanced graduate student as well as for scientists who are interested in the theoretical toolkit used in the context of flavour physics. It is not meant as a complete review of the subject, rather it should be useful as an introduction to the basic ideas.