In Search of Lonely Top Quarks at the Tevatron

Abstract

Single top-quark production, via weak-interaction processes, is an important test of the standard model, potentially sensitive to new physics. However, it is becoming known that this measurement is much more challenging at the Tevatron than originally expected. We reexamine this process and suggest new methods, using shape variables, that can supplement the methods that have been discussed previously. In particular, by focusing on correlations and asymmetries, we can reduce backgrounds substantially without low acceptance for the signal. Our method also allows for a self-consistency check on the modeling of the backgrounds. However, at the present time, serious systematic problems remain, especially concerning the background from W-plus-jets; these must be studied further by experimentalists and theorists alike.

25 pages, 9 figures; 3 minor typos corrected, 1 reference added, minor editorial improvements in figures 1 and 7

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• Single top production and decay at next-to-leading order
• Understanding single-top-quark production and jets at hadron colliders
• Single Top Quark Production and Decay at Next-to-leading Order in Hadron Collision
• Next-to-Leading Order Corrections to Single Top Quark Production and Decay at the Tevatron: 1. s-channel Process
• Search for electroweak single top quark production in ppbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Next-to-leading-order predictions for t-channel single-top production at hadron colliders
• Testing new physics models by top charge asymmetry and polarization at the LHC
• LHC Charge Asymmetry as Constraint on Models for the Tevatron Top Anomaly
• Observation of Single Top Quark Production
• Using Charge Asymmetries to Measure Single Top Quark Production at the LHC
• CP-violating MSSM Higgs at Tevatron and LHC