Evidence for Top Quark Production in $\bar{p}p$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.8$ TeV

TL;DR

This paper reports evidence for top quark production in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.8 TeV, with observed events suggesting the existence of the top quark and estimating its mass and production cross section, though limited statistics prevent definitive confirmation.

Contribution

First evidence of top quark production at Fermilab, providing mass and cross section estimates based on collision data.

Findings

Observed 12 candidate events consistent with top quark signatures.

Estimated top quark mass of 174 GeV/c² with uncertainties.

Measured top pair production cross section of approximately 14 pb.

Abstract

We summarize a search for the top quark with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) in a sample of $\bar{p}p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$= 1.8 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 19.3~pb$^{-1}$. We find 12 events consistent with either two $W$ bosons, or a $W$ boson and at least one $b$ jet. The probability that the measured yield is consistent with the background is 0.26%. Though the statistics are too limited to establish firmly the existence of the top quark, a natural interpretation of the excess is that it is due to $t\bar{t}$ production. Under this assumption, constrained fits to individual events yield a top quark mass of $174 \pm 10^{+13}_{-12}$ GeV/c$^2$. The $t\bar{t}$ production cross section is measured to be $13.9^{+6.1}_{-4.8}$~pb. (Submitted to Physical Review Letters on May 16, 1994).