Challenging the standard model at the Tevatron collider
Even at a time where the world's eyes are focused on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which has reached the energy frontier in 2010, many important results are still being obtained from data analyses performed at the Tevatron collider at Fermilab. This contribution discusses recent highlights in the areas of B hadron, electroweak, top quark, and Higgs boson physics. The standard model (SM) of particle physics forms the cornerstone of our understanding of elementary particles and their interactions, and many of its aspects have been investigated in great detail. Yet it is generally suspected to be incomplete (e.g. by not allowing for the incorporation of gravity in a field theoretical setting) and un-natural (e.g. the mass of the Higgs boson is not well protected against radiative corrections). In addition, it does not explain the dark matter and dark energy content of the Universe. It is therefore of eminent importance to test the limits of validity of the SM. In the decade since its upgrade to a centre-of-mass energy {radical}s = 1.96 TeV, the Tevatron p{bar p} collider has delivered an integrated luminosity of about 10 fb{sup -1}, up to 9 fb{sup -1} of which are available for analysis by its CDF and D0 collaborations. These large datasets allow for stringent tests of the SM in two areas: direct searches for particles or final states that are not very heavy but that suffer from small production cross sections (e.g. the Higgs boson), and searches for indirect manifestations of beyond-the-standard-model (BSM) effects through virtual effects. The latter searches can often be carried out by precise measurements of otherwise known processes. This contribution describes such tests of the SM carried out by the CDF and D0 collaborations. In particular, recent highlights in the areas of B hadron physics, electroweak physics, top quark physics, and Higgs boson physics are discussed. Recent results of tests of QCD and of direct searches for new phenomena are described in another contribution.
- Research Organization:
- Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359
- OSTI ID:
- 1011166
- Report Number(s):
- FERMILAB-CONF-11-049-E; TRN: US1102132
- Journal Information:
- Submitted to Proc. of Science, Conference: Presented at Kruger 2010: Workshop on Discovery Physics at the LHC, Kruger National Park, Mpumalanga, South Africa, 5-10 Dec 2010
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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