We report on the search for the top quark in p{bar p} collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron (√s = 1.8 TeV) in the di-lepton and lepton+jets channels using multivariate methods. An H-matrix analysis of the e[mu] data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 13.5±1.6 pb−1 yields one event whose likelihood to be a top quark event, assuming m{sub top} = 180 GeV/c2, is ten times more than that of WW and eighteen times more than that of Z → [tau][tau]. A neural network analysis of the e+jets channel using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 47.9±5.7 pb−1 shows an excess of events in the signal region and yields a cross-section for t{bar t} production of 6.7±2.3 (stat.) pb, assuming a top mass of 200 GeV/c2. An analysis of the e+jets data using the probability density estimation method yields a cross-section that is consistent with the above result.
The D0 collaboration is developing top search strategies using multivariate analysis techniques. We report here on applications of the H-matrix method to the e[mu] channel and neural networks to the e+jets channel.
We present a search for electroweak production of single top quarks in (p{bar p} --> t{bar b} + X) and t-channel (p{bar p} --> tq{bar b} + X) modes. We have analyzed 230 pb−1 of data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider at a center-of-mass energy of (square root)s = 1.96 TeV. Two separate analysis methods are used: neural networks and a cut-based analysis. No evidence for a single top quark signal is found. We set 95% confidence level upper limits on the production cross sections using Bayesian statistics, based on event counts and binned likelihoods formed from the neural network output. The limits from the neural network (cut-based) analysis are 6.4 pb (10.6 pb) in the s-channel and 5.0 pb (11.3 pb) in the t-channel.
I report on D[null]'s preliminary analyses of the top quark mass[ital m[sub t]] based on an exposure at[radical]s= 1.8 TeV with integrated luminosity[approx]100 pb[sup -1] at the Fermilab Tevatron[ital p][ital[anti p]] collider. From three[ital e]+[mu]+[>=] 2 jet events (with background 0.36[+-] 0.09), using partly original methods, we obtain[ital m[sub t]]= 158[+-] 24(stat)[+-] 10(syst) GeV/c[sup 2]. From 30[ital e] or[mu]+[+-]4 jets events (with background 17.4[+-]2.2), we find[ital m[sub t]]= 170[+-] 15(stat)[+-] 10(syst) GeV/c[sup 2]. Recently, using multivariate methods based on particular kinematic variables, we have learned how to improve the background suppression in the latter sample without unduly distorting the reconstructed top mass spectra. Applying these methods should improve considerably the accuracy of our top quark mass determination.
The top quark is by far the heaviest known fundamental particle with a mass nearing that of a gold atom. Because of this strikingly high mass, the top quark has several unique properties and might play an important role in electroweak symmetry breaking—the mechanism that gives all elementary particles mass. Creating top quarks requires access to very high energy collisions, and at present only the Tevatron collider at Fermilab is capable of reaching these energies. Until now, top quarks have only been observed produced in pairs via the strong interaction. At hadron colliders, it should also be possible to produce single top quarks via the electroweak interaction. Studies of single top quark production provide opportunities to measure the top quark spin, how top quarks mix with other quarks, and to look for new physics beyond the standard model. Because of these interesting properties, scientists have been looking for single top quarks for more than 15 years. This thesis presents the first discovery of single top quark production. It documents one of the flagship measurements of the D0 experiment, a collaboration of more than 600 physicists from around the world. It describes first observation of a physical process known as “single top quark production”, which had been sought for more than 10 years before its eventual discovery in 2009. Further, his thesis describes, in detail, the innovative approach Dr. Gillberg took to this analysis. Through the use of Boosted Decision Trees, a machine-learning technique, he observed the tiny single top signal within an otherwise overwhelming background. This Doctoral Thesis has been accepted by Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.
We present first evidence for the production of single top quarks at the Fermilab Tevatron p{bar p} collider. Using a 0.9 fb−1 dataset, we apply a multivariate analysis to separate signal from background and measure cross section for single top quark production. We use the cross section measurement to directly determine the CKM matrix element that describes the Wtb coupling. We also present results of W0 and charged Higgs searches with the same final states as standard model single top quark production.
In 1995 the last missing member of the known families of quarks, the top quark, was discovered by the CDF and D0 experiments at the Tevatron, a proton-antiproton collider at Fermilab near Chicago. Until today, the Tevatron is the only place where top quarks can be produced. The determination of top quark production and properties is crucial to understand the Standard Model of particle physics and beyond. The most striking property of the top quark is its mass--of the order of the mass of a gold atom and close to the electroweak scale--making the top quark not only interesting in itself but also as a window to new physics. Due to the high mass, much higher than of any other known fermion, it is expected that the top quark plays an important role in electroweak symmetry breaking, which is the most prominent candidate to explain the mass of particles. In the Standard Model, electroweak symmetry breaking is induced by one Higgs field, producing one additional physical particle, the Higgs boson. Although various searches have been performed, for example at the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP), no evidence for the Higgs boson could yet be found in any experiment. At the Tevatron, multiple searches for the last missing particle of the Standard Model are ongoing with ever higher statistics and improved analysis techniques. The exclusion or verification of the Higgs boson can only be achieved by combining many techniques and many final states and production mechanisms. As part of this thesis, the search for Higgs bosons produced in association with a top quark pair (t{bar t}H) has been performed. This channel is especially interesting for the understanding of the coupling between Higgs and the top quark. Even though the Standard Model Higgs boson is an attractive candidate, there is no reason to believe that the electroweak symmetry breaking is induced by only one Higgs field. In many models more than one Higgs boson are expected to exist, opening even more channels to search for charged or neutral Higgs bosons. Depending on its mass, the charged Higgs boson is expected to decay either into top quarks or be the decay product of a top quark. For masses below the top quark mass, the top decay into a charged Higgs boson and a b quark can occur at a certain rate, additionally to the decays into W bosons and a b quark. The different decays of W and charged Higgs bosons can lead to deviations of the observed final number of events in certain final states with respect to the Standard Model expectation. A global search for charged Higgs bosons in top quark pair events is presented in this thesis, resulting in the most stringent limits to-date. Besides the decay of top quarks into charged Higgs or W bosons, new physics can also show up in the quark part of the decay. While in the Standard Model the top quark decays with a rate of about 100% into a W boson and a b quark, there are models where the top quark can decay into a W boson and a non-b quark. The ratio of branching fractions in which the top quark decays into a b quark over the branching fractions in which the top quark decays into all quarks is measured as part of this thesis, yielding the most precise measurement today. Furthermore, the Standard Model top quark pair production cross section is essential to be known precisely since the top quark pair production is the main background for t{bar t}H production and many other Higgs and beyond the Standard Model searches. However, not only the search or the test of the Standard Model itself make the precise measurement of the top quark pair production cross section interesting. As the cross section is calculated with high accuracy in perturbative QCD, a comparison of the measurement to the theory expectation yields the possibility to extract the top quark mass from the cross section measurement. Although many dedicated techniques exist to measure the top quark mass, the extraction from the cross section represents an important complementary measurement. The latter is briefly discussed in this thesis and compared to direct top mass measurements. The goal of this thesis is the improved understanding of the top quark sector and its use as a window to new physics. Techniques are extended and developed to measure the top quark pair production cross section simultaneously with the ratio of branching fractions, the t{bar t}H cross section or the rate with which top quarks decay into charged Higgs bosons. Some of the results are then taken to extract more information. The cross section measurement is used to extract the top quark mass, and the ratio of the top quark pair production cross sections in different final states, yielding a limit on non-Standard Model top quark decays.
Astrophysical observations implying the existence of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, which are not described by the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, have led to extensions of the SM predicting new particles that could be directly produced at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Based on 2015 and 2016 ATLAS proton-proton collision data, this thesis presents searches for the supersymmetric partner of the top quark, for Dark Matter, and for DarkEnergy, in signatures with jets and missing transverse energy. Muon detection is key to some of the most important LHC physics results, including the discovery of the Higgs boson and the measurement of its properties. The efficiency with which muons can be detected with the ATLAS detector is measured using Z boson decays. The performance of high-precision Monitored Drift Tube muon chambers under background rates similar to the ones expected for the High Luminosity-LHC is studied.
The results of the first analysis to show evidence for production of single top quarks are presented. Using 0.9 fb-1 of data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron, the analysis is performed in the electron jets and muon jets decay modes, taking special care in modeling the large backgrounds, applying a new powerful b-quark tagging algorithm and using three multivariate techniques to extract the small signal in the data. The combined measured production cross section is 4.8 +- 1.3 pb. The probability to measure a cross section at this value or higher in the absence of a signal is 0.027%, corresponding to a 3.5 standard deviation significance.
