Search for Electroweak Single-Top Quark Production with the CDF II Experiment

Technical Report · Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/911841· OSTI ID:911841

Buehler, Matthias

The CDF II experiment and the Tevatron proton-antiproton collider are parts of the Fermi National Laboratories (Fermilab). The Fermilab is located in the vicinity of Chicago, USA. Today, the Tevatron is the only collider which is able to produce the heaviest known elementary particle, the top quark. The top quark was discovered at the Tevatron by the CDF and the D0 collaborations in 1995 [1]. So far, all the top quarks found are produced via the strong interaction as top-antitop pairs. The Standard Model of elementary particle physics also predicts single-top quark production via the electroweak interaction. This production mode has not yet been observed. The CDF and the D0 collaborations have set upper limits on the cross section for that process in Run I [2, 3] and improved those results in Run II [4, 5]. Single-top quark production is one of the major interests in Run II of the Tevatron as it offers several ways to test the Standard Model and to search for potential physics beyond the Standard Model. The measurement of the cross section of singly produced top quarks via the electroweak interaction offers the possibility to determine the Cabbibo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element V{sub tb} directly. The CKM matrix defines the transformation from the eigenstates of the electroweak interactions to the mass eigenstates of the quarks. V{sub tb} gives the strength of the coupling at the Wtb vertex. The single-top quark is produced at this vertex and therefore the cross section of the single-top quark production is directly proportional to |V{sub tb}|{sup 2}. In the Standard Model, three generations of quarks and the unitarity of the CKM matrix are predicted. This leads to V{sub tb} {approx} 1. Up to now, there is no possibility to measure V{sub tb} without using the assumption that there are a certain number of quark generations. Since the measurement of the cross section of single-top quark production is independent of this assumption it could verify another prediction of the Standard Model or give hints towards physics beyond the Standard Model such as a fourth generation of quarks. In addition, electroweak single-top quark production is an important background for the Higgs boson search in the mass range of 90 GeV/c{sup 2} to 130 GeV/c{sup 2} at the Tevatron in the WH channel. Two single-top quark production modes are dominant at the Tevatron, the t-channel or W-gluon fusion and the s-channel or W* process. Since it is challenging to separate the signal from the various background events we use a neural network to combine several variables into one powerful discriminant. The simulated Monte Carlo sample outputs of the neural networks are used as templates for a likelihood fit to the outputs of the neural networks of the data. In this thesis CDF II data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 695 pb{sup -1} is discussed. As this analysis yields no significant evidence of electroweak single-top production it is not possible to measure any cross sections. Consequently we determine upper limits on the cross sections of the t- and s-channel production separately and combined.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 911841
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-MASTERS-2006-02; TRN: US0800170
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CROSS SECTIONS
EIGENSTATES
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMILAB COLLIDER DETECTOR
FERMILAB TEVATRON
FORECASTING
HIGGS BOSONS
LUMINOSITY
MATRIX ELEMENTS
NEURAL NETWORKS
PHYSICS
PRODUCTION
QUARKS
S CHANNEL
STANDARD MODEL
STRONG INTERACTIONS
T CHANNEL
T QUARKS
TRANSFORMATIONS
UNITARITY
Experiment-HEP