A Search for Disoriented Chiral Condensate at the Fermilab Tevatron

TL;DR

This study searches for disoriented chiral condensate production in proton-antiproton collisions at the Tevatron, analyzing a large dataset with robust observables, but finds results consistent with standard pion distributions and sets limits on DCC occurrence.

Contribution

First experimental search for DCC at Tevatron energies using robust observables, providing constraints on DCC production models.

Findings

Results consistent with binomial pion distribution

No evidence of DCC observed in the data

Limits established on DCC production rates

Abstract

We present results from MiniMax (Fermilab T-864), a small test/experiment at the Tevatron designed to search for the production of disoriented chiral condensate (DCC) in $p - \bar p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.8$ TeV in the forward direction, $\sim 3.4 < \eta < \sim 4.2$. Data, consisting of $1.3 \times 10^6$ events, are analyzed using the robust observables developed in an earlier paper. The results are consistent with generic, binomial-distribution partition of pions into charged and neutral species. Limits on DCC production in various models are presented.