Search for the Top Quark: Results from the D-Zero Experiment

TL;DR

This paper reports on the search for the top quark using Fermilab collider data, observing a small excess of events but no definitive evidence for its existence due to limited statistics.

Contribution

First search for top quark production at Fermilab using dilepton and single lepton channels with initial data from the D-Zero experiment.

Findings

Observed 7 events vs. 3.2 expected background events

No conclusive evidence for top quark due to limited data

Estimated t-tbar cross-section as a function of top quark mass

Abstract

We review the search for the top quark conducted by the D-Zero collaboration using data from the Fermilab pbar-p collider. Based upon a preliminary analysis of an integrated luminosity of about 13.5 pb-1, we have searched for t-tbar production and decay in the experimental channels involving a pair of dileptons (electron or muon) plus jets, or single leptons plus jets. Summed over all channels, we observe 7 events in our data, to be compared with an expectation from background processes of 3.2 +/- 1.1 events. The t-tbar ~cross-section deduced from the small excess of events is presented as a function of the top quark mass. The statistics are sufficiently limited that no clear evidence for the existence of the top quark can be obtained. We also comment upon contributions to the Parallel session devoted to the top quark at this conference.