Search for Anomalous Kinematics in ttbar Dilepton Events at CDF II

TL;DR

This paper searches for unusual kinematic patterns in top-antitop dilepton events at the CDF II detector, using a novel method to identify deviations from the Standard Model, but finds no significant anomalies.

Contribution

A new a priori technique was developed to detect and quantify deviations from the Standard Model in ttbar dilepton events.

Findings

No significant discrepancy with the Standard Model was observed.

The probability of the data being less consistent with SM than observed is 1.0-4.5%.

The method effectively isolates subsets with potential deviations.

Abstract

We report on a search for anomalous kinematics of ttbar dilepton events in ppbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV using 193 {pb}^{-1} of data collected with the CDF II detector. We developed a new a priori technique designed to isolate the subset in a data sample revealing the largest deviation from standard model (SM) expectations and to quantify the significance of this departure. In the four-variable space considered, no particular subset shows a significant discrepancy and we find that the probability of obtaining a data sample less consistent with the SM than what is observed is 1.0-4.5%.