This will be a required acquisition text for academic libraries. More than ten years after its discovery, still relatively little is known about the top quark, the heaviest known elementary particle. This extensive survey summarizes and reviews top-quark physics based on the precision measurements at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, as well as examining in detail the sensitivity of these experiments to new physics. Finally, the author provides an overview of top quark physics at the Large Hadron Collider.
In an epoch when particle physics is awaiting a major step forward, the Large Hydron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva will soon be operational. It will collide a beam of high energy protons with another similar beam circulation in the same 27 km tunnel but in the opposite direction, resulting in the production of many elementary particles some never created in the laboratory before. It is widely expected that the LHC will discover the Higgs boson, the particle which supposedly lends masses to all other fundamental particles. In addition, the question as to whether there is some new law of physics at such high energy is likely to be answered through this experiment. The present volume contains a collection of articles written by international experts, both theoreticians and experimentalists, from India and abroad, which aims to acquaint a non-specialist with some basic issues related to the LHC. At the same time, it is expected to be a useful, rudimentary companion of introductory exposition and technical expertise alike, and it is hoped to become unique in its kind. The fact that there is substantial Indian involvement in the entire LHC endeavour, at all levels including fabrication, physics analysis procedures as well as theoretical studies, is also amply brought out in the collection.
This thesis presents the first experimental calibration of the top-quark Monte-Carlo mass. It also provides the top-quark mass-independent and most precise top-quark pair production cross-section measurement to date. The most precise measurements of the top-quark mass obtain the top-quark mass parameter (Monte-Carlo mass) used in simulations, which are partially based on heuristic models. Its interpretation in terms of mass parameters used in theoretical calculations, e.g. a running or a pole mass, has been a long-standing open problem with far-reaching implications beyond particle physics, even affecting conclusions on the stability of the vacuum state of our universe. In this thesis, this problem is solved experimentally in three steps using data obtained with the compact muon solenoid (CMS) detector. The most precise top-quark pair production cross-section measurements to date are performed. The Monte-Carlo mass is determined and a new method for extracting the top-quark mass from theoretical calculations is presented. Lastly, the top-quark production cross-sections are obtained – for the first time – without residual dependence on the top-quark mass, are interpreted using theoretical calculations to determine the top-quark running- and pole mass with unprecedented precision, and are fully consistently compared with the simultaneously obtained top-quark Monte-Carlo mass.
Before any kind of new physics discovery could be made at the LHC, a precise understanding and measurement of the Standard Model of particle physics' processes was necessary. The book provides an introduction to top quark production in the context of the Standard Model and presents two such precise measurements of the production of top quark pairs in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV that were observed with the ATLAS Experiment at the LHC. The presented measurements focus on events with one charged lepton, missing transverse energy and jets. Using novel and advanced analysis techniques as well as a good understanding of the detector, they constitute the most precise measurements of the quantity at that time.
This book describes the memorable theoretical work that motivated the construction of the electron-positron accelerators at CERN and SLAC, and the monumental experimental effort that led to a verification of the main theoretical expectations at these laboratories and at Fermilab.The aim is to provide a description of the theoretical work, as well as a synthesis of the experimental effort, which makes interesting reading for both theorists and experimentalists. In particular, the experimental measurements, discussed in the second part of the book, are systematically related to the theoretical quantities discussed in the first. The topics still to be investigated, unsolved problems, and the perspectives at future giant accelerators conclude this fascinating text.
In August/September 2001, a group of 75 physicists from 51 laboratories in 15 countries met in Erice, Italy to participate in the 39th Course of the International School of Subnuclear Physics. This volume constitutes the proceedings of that meeting. It focuses on the theoretical and phenomenological developments in string theory, as well as in all the other sectors of subnuclear physics. In addition, experimental highlights are presented and discussed.
These proceedings are devoted to a wide variety of both theoretical and experimental areas in particle physics. The topics include physics at accelerators and studies of Standard Model and Beyond, neutrino and astroparticle physics, cosmology, CP Violation and rare decays, hadron physics, and new developments in quantum field theory. The papers of the volume reveal the present status and new development in the above mentioned items. In particular, the first results on measurement of LHC pp collision events are also reported.
This book presents the latest results from high energy physics laboratories. The topics discussed include: Cosmology, Heavy Ions, Electroweak, Heavy Flavour Physics and CP Violation/Rare Decays, QCD and Beyond the Standard Model, Planck Scale Physics, Accelerator and Non-Accelerator Physics and Instrumentation.
The high energy electron-positron linear collider is expected to provide crucial clues to many of the fundamental questions of our time: What is the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking? Does a Standard Model Higgs boson exist, or does nature take the route of supersymmetry, technicolor or extra dimensions, or none of the foregoing? This invaluable book is a collection of articles written by experts on many of the most important topics which the linear collider will focus on. It is aimed primarily at graduate students but will undoubtedly be useful also to any active researcher on the physics of the next generation linear collider.
