Observation of top quark pair production in the dilepton decay channel from proton-antiproton collisions at 1.8 TeV
Abstract
This thesis presents the results of a search for the top quark using data obtained at the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 1.8\ TeV.$ The data represents an integrated luminosity of 109 $pb\sp{-1}.$ The search includes the Standard Model tt decays with final states in the dilepton channel; $t\bar t \to \ell\sp+\nu\sb\ell b\ell\sp-\bar\nu\sb\ell\bar b,$ where $\ell = e$ or $\mu.$ Such events are characterised by 2 high momentum leptons, 2 b quark jets, and missing energy from the undetected neutrinos. Nine events were observed to pass the selection based on these characteristics, with an estimated background of 2.1 $\pm$ 0.4 events. The probability for an upward fluctuation of the background to produce the observed signal is $6.3 \times 10\sp{-4},$ which corresponds to an excess of 3.2$\sigma.$ The excess is identified as tt production, and gives a measured cross-section of $\sigma\sb{t\bar t} = 8.2\sbsp{-3.3}{+ 3.8}pb.$
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Garfinkel, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Particle physics
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