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Title: Searches for compositeness at the Tevatron

Conference ·
OSTI ID:754710

The existence of three families of quarks and leptons suggests the possibility of a substructure for these objects. The hypothetical constituents known generically as preons, interact via a new strong interaction called Metacolor. The characteristic energy scale, {Lambda}, for the new interactions is, of course, unknown. The strength of the interactions through a contact term can be written as {cflx s}/({alpha}{sub S}{Lambda}{sup 2}), where {cflx s} is the square of the energy in the center of mass frame of the (normal) interacting partons, and {alpha}{sub S} is the QCD coupling. The first limit on the size of the atomic nucleus was obtained by Geiger and Mardsen in the Rutherford scattering of {alpha} particles from nuclei. In an analogous way, the authors can set a limit on the size of quarks and leptons by observing the scattering of the highest energy quarks and antiquarks at the Fermilab Tevatron at {bar p}p center-of-mass energy of 1.8 TeV for collider experiments, and proton beam energy of 0.8 TeV for fixed-target experiments. The collider detectors at Fermilab, CDF and D0, have performed searches for compositeness, and this paper gives a summary of those searches. Those detectors are general-purpose, have nearly 4{pi} acceptance, and measure lepton and jet energies to high precision. In addition, the neutrino detector, CCFR, which utilized the 800 GeV proton line at Fermilab has performed a compositeness search.

Research Organization:
Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Research (ER) (US)
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76CH03000
OSTI ID:
754710
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-Conf-00/088-E; TRN: US0002337
Resource Relation:
Conference: Rencontres de Blois, Blois (FR), 06/27/1999--07/03/1999; Other Information: PBD: 11 May 2000
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English