Looking for single top quarks in D0 data

TL;DR

This paper reports on a search for single top quark production in D0 data, utilizing advanced analysis techniques to set upper limits on production cross sections at the Tevatron collider.

Contribution

It introduces a method using likelihood discriminants to analyze D0 data for electroweak single top production, setting new upper limits on cross sections.

Findings

Upper limit on s-channel production: 5.0 pb

Upper limit on t-channel production: 4.4 pb

Analysis uses 370 pb^-1 of data and likelihood techniques

Abstract

The search for the electroweak production of top quarks is entering an exciting time: with the ever increasing luminosity furnished by the Tevatron ppbar Collider at Fermilab and sophisticated analysis techniques we are now able to approach the expected standard model production cross section for this new mode of production. Using 370pb-1 of D0 data and likelihoods as discriminants to extract the signal from the large backgrounds, we set upper limits on the standard model production cross section in the s-channel of 5.0 pb and in the t-channel of 4.4 pb, at 95% confidence level.