Particle physics aims to give a coherent description of the nature and the behavior of elementary particles of matter. Particle accelerators (colliders) allow pushing back our know- ledge in this domain producing particles that cannot be observed by other means. This thesis work contributes to this research eld and focuses on the study of the top quark which is the latest brick of matter discovered and the heaviest known elementary particle. The property of the top quark studied here, the charge asymmetry of the top quark-antiquark pairs, has driven a lot of attention in 2011 because of measurements released by Tevatron experiments. These measurements showed deviations with the predictions made in the framework of the standard model of particle physics. New measurements of the charge asymmetry performed at the Tevatron (with the D0 detector) and at the LHC (with the ATLAS detector) are presented in this thesis.
Quarks, along with leptons and force carrying particles, are predicted by the Standard Model to be the fundamental constituents of nature. In distinction from the leptons, the quarks interact strongly through the chromodynamic force and are bound together within the hadrons. The familiar proton and neutron are bound states of the light ''up'' and ''down'' quarks. The most massive quark by far, the ''top'' quark, was discovered by the CDF and D0 experiments in March, 1995. The new quark was observed in p$ar{p}$ collisions at 1.8 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron. The mass of the top quark was measured to be 176 ± 13 GeV/c2 and the cross section 6.8$+3.6top{-2.4}$ pb. It is the Q = 2/3, T3 = +1/2 member of the third generation weak-isospin doublet along with the bottom quark. The top quark is the final Standard Model quark to be discovered. Along with whatever is responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking, top quark physics is considered one of the least understood sectors of the Standard Model and represents a front line of our understanding of particle physics. Currently, the only direct measurements of top quark properties come from the CDF and D0 experiments observing p$ar{p}$ collisions at the Tevatron. Top quark production at the Tevatron is almost exclusively by quark-antiquark annihilation, q$ar{q}$ → t$ar{t}$ (85%), and gluon fusion, gg → t$ar{t}$ (15%), mediated by the strong force. The theoretical cross-section for this process is ?t$ar{t}$ = 6.7 ± 0.8 pb for mt = 175 GeV/c2. Top quarks can also be produced at the Tevatron via q$ar{b}$' → tb and qg → q'tb through the weak interaction. The cross section for these processes is lower (3pb) and the signal is much more difficult to isolate as backgrounds are much higher. The top quark is predicted to decay almost exclusively into a W-boson and a bottom quark (t → Wb). The total decay width t → Wb is ? = 1.50 GeV. This corresponds to an incredibly short lifetime of 0.5 x 10-24 seconds. This happens so quickly that hadronization and bound states do not take place, which leads to the interesting consequence that the top quark spin information is passed to the decay products.
Measurements of the top-antitop quark pair production charge asymmetry in the dilepton channel, characterized by two high-pT leptons (electrons or muons), are presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb–1 from pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy √s = 8 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Inclusive and differential measurements as a function of the invariant mass, transverse momentum, and longitudinal boost of the tt¯ system are performed both in the full phase space and in a fiducial phase space closely matching the detector acceptance. Two observables are studied: AllC based on the selected leptons and Att¯C based on the reconstructed tt¯ final state. As a result, the inclusive asymmetries are measured in the full phase space to be AllC=0.008±0.006 and Att¯C=0.021±0.016, which are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions of AllC=0.0064±0.0003 and Att¯C=0.0111±0.0004.
Quarks, along with leptons and force carrying particles, are predicted by the Standard Model to be the fundamental constituents of nature. In distinction from the leptons, the quarks interact strongly through the chromodynamic force and are bound together within the hadrons. The familiar proton and neutron are bound states of the light ''up'' and ''down'' quarks. The most massive quark by far, the ''top'' quark, was discovered by the CDF and D0 experiments in March, 1995. The new quark was observed in p{bar p} collisions at 1.8 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron. The mass of the top quark was measured to be 176 {+-} 13 GeV/c{sup 2} and the cross section 6.8{sub -2.4}{sup +3.6} pb. It is the Q = 2/3, T{sub 3} = +1/2 member of the third generation weak-isospin doublet along with the bottom quark. The top quark is the final Standard Model quark to be discovered. Along with whatever is responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking, top quark physics is considered one of the least understood sectors of the Standard Model and represents a front line of our understanding of particle physics. Currently, the only direct measurements of top quark properties come from the CDF and D0 experiments observing p{bar p} collisions at the Tevatron. Top quark production at the Tevatron is almost exclusively by quark-antiquark annihilation, q{bar q} {yields} t{bar t} (85%), and gluon fusion, gg {yields} t{bar t} (15%), mediated by the strong force. The theoretical cross-section for this process is {sigma}{sub t{bar t}} = 6.7 {+-} 0.8 pb for m{sub t} = 175 GeV/c{sup 2}. Top quarks can also be produced at the Tevatron via q{bar b}{prime} {yields} tb and qg {yields} q{prime}tb through the weak interaction. The cross section for these processes is lower (3pb) and the signal is much more difficult to isolate as backgrounds are much higher. The top quark is predicted to decay almost exclusively into a W-boson and a bottom quark (t {yields} Wb). The total decay width t {yields} Wb is {Lambda} = 1.50 GeV. This corresponds to an incredibly short lifetime of 0.5 x 10{sup -24} seconds. This happens so quickly that hadronization and bound states do not take place, which leads to the interesting consequence that the top quark spin information is passed to the decay products.
Since the discovery of the top quark in 1995 at the Fermliab Tevatron Collider, top quark properties have been measured with ever higher precision. In this article, recent measurements of the top quark mass and its width using up to 3.6 fb−1 of D0 data are summarized. Different techniques and final states have been examined and no deviations within these measurements have been observed. In addition to the direct measurements, a measurement of the top quark mass from its production cross section and a measurement of the top-antitop quark mass difference are discussed. With a mass of 173.3 ± 1.1 GeV, the top quark is the heaviest of all known fundamental particles. Due to the high mass, its Yukawa coupling is close to unity suggesting that it may play a special role in electroweak symmetry breaking. Precise measurements of both, the W boson and the top quark mass, constrain the mass of the yet unobserved Higgs boson and allow to restrict certain extensions of the Standard Model. At the Tevatron collider with a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV, 85% of the top quark pairs are produced in quark-antiquark annihilation; 15% originate from gluon fusion. Top quarks are predicted to decay almost exclusively to a W boson and a bottom quark. According to the number of hadronic W decays, top events are classified into all-jets, lepton+jets and dilepton events. The lepton+jets channel is characterized by four jets, one isolated, energetic charged lepton and missing transverse energy. With 30%, the branching fraction of the lepton+jets channel is about seven times larger than the one of the dilepton channel whereas the signal to background ratio is about three times smaller. The main background in this final state comes from W +jets events. Instrumental background arises from events in which a jet is misidentified as an electron and events with heavy hadrons that decay into leptons which pass the isolation requirements. The topology of the dilepton channel is described by two jets, two isolated, energetic charged leptons and significant missing transverse energy from the undetected neutrinos. The main background are Z + jets and diboson events (WW/WZ/ZZ+jets) as well as instrumental background as characterized above. At the D0 experiment, different techniques are used to measure the top quark mass. They are summarized in the following sections together with the first measurement of the top anti-top quark mass difference and the first precise determination of the top quark width.
We present a measurement of forward-backward asymmetries in top-antitop quark pairs produced in proton-antiproton collisions decaying via the lepton+jets channel. Using data recorded by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron collider and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb-1, we measure the forward-backward asymmetry in top-antitop quark events to be $\left(9.2 \pm 3.7\right)\%$, after background processes have been subtracted. After correcting for the effects of acceptance and detector reconstruction, we measure an asymmetry of $\left(19.6 \pm 6.5\right)\%$. In addition, we measure an acceptance-corrected asymmetry based on the lepton from top-antitop quark decay of $\left(15.2 \pm 4.0\right)\%$. We compare these results to predictions from the MC@NLO next-to-leading-order QCD simulation.
Abstract : In the Standard Model, the top quark plays a unique role as the heaviest known fundamental particle and as a quark that decays before it is able to hadronize. Top quarks are expected to decay to a W-boson and a b-quark nearly 100% of the time. If the branching ratio of t → Wb is lower than one, the distribution of the number of b-tagged jets will shift to lower multiplicities. A simultaneous likelihood fit to the number of b-tagged jets distributions in the lepton+jets and dilepton channels is performed on 4.7 fb−1 of data collected by the ATLAS detector to extract both the branching ratio and the tt ̄ cross section. The branching ratio of t → Wb, R, is measured to be 1.06±0.11, which is consistent with the Standard Model value. This is the first measurement of the t → Wb branching ratio performed with the ATLAS detector using both the lepton+jets and dilepton channels at the LHC. The tt ̄ cross section is measured to be [special characters omitted] pb, which agrees with NNLO predictions.
Many theories beyond the Standard Model predict new massive particles that decay preferentially to top-antitop quark pairs. This thesis investigates the dilepton final state where both W bosons from the top quarks decay into leptons. This final state features the highest purity for top quarks but is kinematically under-constrained due to the presence of the two neutrinos that leave the ATLAS detector undetected. Using kinematic constraints from the top-antitop quark decay chain, along with the missing energy, leptons, and jets, that are measured with the ATLAS detector, a set of analytic solutions for the four-vectors of the neutrinos can be obtained. With this information, the invariant mass can be reconstructed up to a four-fold ambiguity. Methods used to eliminate incorrect neutrino solutions are investigated and characterized. For a resonance particle with a mass much larger than the top quark mass, the top quarks will be highly boosted, resulting in collimated decay products of the top quark. Optimizing the lepton selection in such an environment is very important and is also discussed.
We present a measurement of the top anti-top quark (ttbar)production cross section in the dilepton final states from proton-proton collisions at a center of mass energy at 7 TeV at the LHC. A b-tagging algorithm based on tracks displaced from the event interaction vertex is applied to identify bottom quark jets from top quark decay and reject background events. Given the relatively pure sample of bottom quark jets in ttbar dilepton final states, a new technique to measure in-situ the b-tagging efficiency is introduced that uses the distribution of the number of observed b-tagged jets. We present results with data collected at the ATLAS detector in 2010 with an integrated luminosity of 35 pb-1. The measured ttbar cross section is 176 +22/-21 (stat.) ± 20 (syst.) ± 6 (lum.) pb in the dilepton channel. We will also discuss the future prospects of this measurement.
Abstract: A measurement of the energy asymmetry in jet-associated top-quark pair production is presented using 139fb−1 of data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during pp collisions at s√=13TeV . The observable measures the different probability of top and antitop quarks to have the higher energy as a function of the jet scattering angle with respect to the beam axis. The energy asymmetry is measured in the semileptonic tt ̄ decay channel, and the hadronically decaying top quark must have transverse momentum above 350GeV . The results are corrected for detector effects to particle level in three bins of the scattering angle of the associated jet. The measurement agrees with the SM prediction at next-to-leading-order accuracy in quantum chromodynamics in all three bins. In the bin with the largest expected asymmetry, where the jet is emitted perpendicular to the beam, the energy asymmetry is measured to be −0.043±0.020 , in agreement with the SM prediction of −0.037±0.003 . Interpreting this result in the framework of the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT), it is shown that the energy asymmetry is sensitive to the top-quark chirality in four-quark operators and is therefore a valuable new observable in global SMEFT fits
