Measuring the inclusive central muon cross-section in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.8 TeV

Brian Todd Huffman, Purdue University

Abstract

High momentum muons and electrons are distinguishable from other charged particles in a colliding hadronic beam experiment. All the heavy quarks decay into leptons with significant branching fractions. It is for these reasons leptons are the source of information in heavy quark production at hadron colliders. Therefore, obtaining the heavy quark cross section requires the measurement of the lepton cross section. This thesis describes a measurement of the cross section of central muons at the Collider Detector at Fermilab. The cross sections are 3.90 $\pm$.27 $\pm$.51 nb for muon transverse momentum between 12 and 17 GeV/c;.52 $\pm$.13 $\pm$.08 nb for $p\sb{t}$ between 17 and 22 GeV/c; and less than.17 nb for $p\sb{t}$ between 22 and 27 GeV/c at the 95% confidence level.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Garfinkel, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Particle physics

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