Testing the Standard Model with Top-Quark Production
Sullivan, Zack Edward
This item is only available for download by members of the University of Illinois community. Students, faculty, and staff at the U of I may log in with your NetID and password to view the item. If you are trying to access an Illinois-restricted dissertation or thesis, you can request a copy through your library's Inter-Library Loan office or purchase a copy directly from ProQuest.
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/30857
Description
Title
Testing the Standard Model with Top-Quark Production
Author(s)
Sullivan, Zack Edward
Issue Date
1998-04
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Willenbrock, Scott S.
Committee Member(s)
Watson, W.D.
Holt, R.J.
Department of Study
Physics
Discipline
Physics
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
top quark
supersymmetry
Fermilab Tevatron collider
single-top-quark production
Language
en
Abstract
Now that the existence of the top quark is firmly established, attention turns to measuring its properties. Because of its large mass, the top quark may be sensitive to physics beyond the standard model. A promising candidate for this new physics is supersymmetry. Hence, we calculate the supersymmetric QCD correction to top-quark production at the Fermilab Tevatron, allowing for arbitrary left-right mixing of the squarks. We find that the correction is significant for several combinations of gluino and squark masses, e.g. +33% for m8= 200 GeV, m;-= mq= 75 GeV.
Single-top-quark production at hadron colliders provides an opportunity to directly probe the charged-current weak interaction of the top quark. We calculate the next-to-leading-order corrections to single-top-quark production via W -gluon fusion at the Fermilab Tevatron, the CERN Large Hadron Collider, and DESY HERA. Using a b-quark distribution function to sum collinear logarithms, we show that there are two independent corrections, of order 1/ ln(m? /m~) and as. This observation is generic to processes involving a perturbatively derived heavy-quark distribution function at an energy scale large compared with the heavy-quark mass.
Using the next-to-leading-order results for theW -gluon fusion cross section, we analyze the possibilities for studying single-top-quark production at the Tevatron and LHC. We find that there may be evidence for single-top-quark production in Run I data. Run II at the Tevatron should allow the W-gluon fusion cross section to be measured to ±22% with 2 fb- 1 of data. The LHC will have a statistical resolution of ±2% with the first 1 fb- 1 of data. The implications of these results for measuring Vrb and top-quark spin polarization are discussed.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
