Single Top Quark Production at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider

TL;DR

This paper reports the first evidence of single top quark production at the Fermilab Tevatron, with measurements of production cross sections and direct determination of the CKM matrix element |Vtb|.

Contribution

It presents combined analyses from D0 and CDF experiments providing the first direct measurements of |Vtb| and evidence for single top production.

Findings

Measured cross section of 4.7 +- 1.3 pb by D0

Measured cross section of 3.0 +1.2 -1.1 pb by CDF

Significance levels of 3.6 and 3.1 standard deviations

Abstract

First evidence for single top quark production has recently been found by both the D0 and CDF experiments. By combining three analyses, D0 measured a cross section of 4.7 +- 1.3 pb, with a significance of 3.6 standard deviations, and CDF's matrix elements analysis measured a cross section of 3.0 +1.2 -1.1 pb, with a significance of 3.1 standard deviations. These analyses also provided the first direct measurements of the CKM matrix element, |Vtb|, without assuming unitarity. This talk briefly describes the latest single top production results from the two experiments.