Search for Single Top Production at LEP

TL;DR

This study searches for single top quark production in electron-positron collisions at LEP energies, finding no evidence and setting upper limits on production cross sections and new physics parameters.

Contribution

First comprehensive search for single top production at LEP energies, establishing upper limits and constraining anomalous couplings and contact interaction scales.

Findings

No evidence of single top production at LEP energies

Upper limits set on single top cross section as a function of energy

Constraints placed on anomalous couplings and contact interaction scales

Abstract

Single top production in e+e- annihilations is searched for in data collected by the L3 detector at centre-of-mass energies from 189 to 209 GeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 634 pb-1. Investigating hadronic and semileptonic top decays, no evidence of single top production at LEP is obtained and upper limits on the single top cross section as a function of the centre-of-mass energy are derived. Limits on possible anomalous couplings, as well as on the scale of contact interactions responsible for single top production are determined.