Search for the Production of Scalar Bottom Quarks in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports a search for scalar bottom quark pairs in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.96 TeV, setting limits on their production and excluding certain mass ranges based on observed data.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental limits on sbottom pair production at this energy, assuming specific decay channels within supersymmetry models.

Findings

No excess over the standard model observed

Excluded sbottom masses up to 230 GeV/c^2 for certain neutralino masses

Set upper limits on production cross sections at 95% confidence level

Abstract

We report on a search for direct scalar bottom quark (sbottom) pair production in $p \bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$~TeV, in events with large missing transverse energy and two jets of hadrons in the final state, where at least one of the jets is required to be identified as originating from a $b$ quark. The study uses a CDF Run~II data sample corresponding to 2.65~fb${}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity. The data are in agreement with the standard model. In an R-parity conserving minimal supersymmetric scenario, and assuming that the sbottom decays exclusively into a bottom quark and a neutralino, 95$\%$ confidence-level upper limits on the sbottom pair production cross section of 0.1~pb are obtained. For neutralino masses below 70~GeV/$c^2$, sbottom masses up to 230~GeV/$c^2$ are excluded at 95$\%$ confidence level.