Cross section measurement of t-channel single top quark production in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 13 TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports a measurement of the t-channel single top quark production cross section at 13 TeV using CMS data, confirming consistency with the Standard Model and providing insights into the CKM matrix element V[tb].

Contribution

First measurement of the t-channel single top quark production cross section at 13 TeV with detailed analysis and extraction of V[tb] from CMS data.

Findings

Measured cross section: 238 +/- 13 (stat) +/- 29 (syst) pb

Ratio of top to antiquark production: 1.81 +/- 0.18 (stat) +/- 0.15 (syst)

V[tb] value: 1.05 +/- 0.07 (exp) +/- 0.02 (theo)

Abstract

The cross section for the production of single top quarks in the t channel is measured in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The analyzed data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 2.2 inverse femtobarns. The event selection requires one muon and two jets where one of the jets is identified as originating from a bottom quark. Several kinematic variables are then combined into a multivariate discriminator to distinguish signal from background events. A fit to the distribution of the discriminating variable yields a total cross section of 238 +/- 13 (stat) +/- 29 (syst) pb and a ratio of top quark and top antiquark production of R[t-ch.] = 1.81 +/- 0.18 (stat) +/- 0.15 (syst). From the total cross section the absolute value of the CKM matrix element V[tb] is calculated to be 1.05 +/- 0.07 (exp) +/- 0.02 (theo). All results are in agreement with the standard model predictions.