Precision measurements of the top quark mass from the Tevatron in the pre-LHC era

TL;DR

This paper reviews the precise measurements of the top quark mass at the Tevatron collider, highlighting experimental techniques, event topologies, and the combined result of approximately 173.2 GeV/c^2, crucial for understanding Standard Model physics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of the methods and results of top quark mass measurements at the Tevatron before LHC operations, including data analysis and combination techniques.

Findings

Top quark mass measured as 173.2 ± 0.9 GeV/c^2

Methods for separating signal from background are discussed

Combined Tevatron measurements improve precision of top mass estimate

Abstract

The top quark is the heaviest of the six quarks of the Standard Model. Precise knowledge of its mass is important for imposing constraints on a number of physics processes, including interactions of the as yet unobserved Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is the only missing particle of the Standard Model, central to the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism and generation of particle masses. In this Review, experimental measurements of the top quark mass accomplished at the Tevatron, a proton-antiproton collider located at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, are described. Topologies of top quark events and methods used to separate signal events from background sources are discussed. Data analysis techniques used to extract information about the top mass value are reviewed. The combination of several most precise measurements performed with the two Tevatron particle detectors, CDF and \D0, yields a value of $\Mt = 173.2 \pm 0.9$ GeV/$c^2$.