Measurement of the t-channel single top quark production cross section in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports the measurement of the electroweak t-channel single top quark production cross section at 7 TeV using CMS data, employing two analysis methods to extract the signal from background.

Contribution

It presents the first measurement of the t-channel single top quark production cross section at 7 TeV with two complementary analysis techniques.

Findings

Measured cross section: 83.6 pb with uncertainties

Results are consistent with Standard Model predictions

Used data-driven background estimation and multivariate analysis

Abstract

Electroweak production of the top quark is measured in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using a dataset collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns. With an event selection optimized for t-channel production, two complementary analyses are performed. The first one exploits the special angular properties of the signal, together with background estimates from data. The second approach uses a multivariate analysis technique to probe the compatibility with signal topology expected from electroweak top quark production. The combined measurement of the cross section is 83.6 +/- 29.8 (stat.+syst.) +/- 3.3 (lumi.) pb, consistent with the standard model expectation.