Measurement of differential cross sections for t-channel single-top-quark production at 13 TeV

TL;DR

This paper presents an early measurement of the differential cross sections for t-channel single-top-quark production at 13 TeV, analyzing proton-proton collision data to compare observed distributions with theoretical predictions.

Contribution

It provides the first differential cross section measurement of t-channel single-top-quark production at 13 TeV using 2.3 fb^{-1} of data, employing multivariate analysis and unfolding techniques.

Findings

Measured top quark transverse momentum and rapidity distributions.

Compared data with Monte Carlo predictions.

Validated the Standard Model predictions for single-top production.

Abstract

The production of single top quarks is a cornerstone in understanding the nature of the heaviest known elementary particle and its involvement in electroweak interactions. An early differential cross section measurement of t-channel single-top-quark production is presented. Proton-Proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of $13~\mathrm{TeV}$ collected in 2015 were analyzed, corresponding to $2.3~\mathrm{fb}^{-1}$. The amount of signal events as a function of the top quark transverse momentum and rapidity is estimated using a multivariate discriminant. The results are unfolded to parton level and compared to predictions by various Monte-Carlo generators.