Evidence for production of single top quarks and first direct measurement of |Vtb|

Phys Rev Lett. 2007 May 4;98(18):181802. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.181802. Epub 2007 May 1.

Abstract

The D0 Collaboration presents first evidence for the production of single top quarks at the Fermilab Tevatron pp[over ] collider. Using a 0.9 fb(-1) dataset, we apply a multivariate analysis to separate signal from background and measure sigma(pp[over ]-->tb+X,tqb+X)=4.9+/-1.4 pb. The probability to measure a cross section at this value or higher in the absence of a signal is 0.035%, corresponding to a 3.4 standard deviation significance. We use the cross section measurement to directly determine the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element that describes the Wtb coupling and find 0.68<|V(tb)|</=1 at 95% C.L. within the standard model.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't