Status of the KEKB accelerator and the BELLE detector

The BELLE detector and the KEKB accelerator, both of which are currently under construction at the Japanese Laboratory for High Energy Physics (KEK), are designed to study CP violation in the decays of B mesons. The accelerator is an asymmetric e(+)e(-) collider with a design luminosity of 10(34) cm(-2) s(-1). The detector features a silicon vertex detector, a central drift chamber, a particle identification system based on time of flight and threshold Cerenkov detectors, a CsI(Tl) calorimeter, and a muon system based on resistive plate chambers. The accelerator and detector are expected to begin operation in early 1999.