  The course begins with an introduction to the Standard Model, viewed as an
effective field theory. Experimental and theoretical limits on the energy
scales at which New Physics can appear, as well as current constraints on quark
flavor parameters, are reviewed. The role of lattice QCD in obtaining these
constraints is described. A second section is devoted to explaining the
Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mechanism for quark flavor mixing and CP violation,
and to detailing its most salient features. The third section is dedicated to
the study of K -> pi pi decays. It comprises discussions of indirect CP
violation through K^0-\bar K^0 mixing, of the \Delta I=1/2 rule and of direct
CP violation. It presents some of the lattice QCD tools required to describe
these phenomena ab initio.
