English

Direct Top-Quark Width Measurement CDF

High Energy Physics - Experiment 2010-12-28 v2

Abstract

We present a measurement of the top-quark width using ttˉt\bar{t} events produced in ppˉp\bar{p} collisions at Fermilab's Tevatron collider and collected by the CDF II detector. In the mode where the top quark decays to a WW boson and a bottom quark, we select events in which one WW decays leptonically and the other hadronically~(lepton + jets channel) . From a data sample corresponding to 4.3~fb1^{-1} of integrated luminosity, we identify 756 candidate events. The top-quark mass and the mass of WW boson that decays hadronically are reconstructed for each event and compared with templates of different top-quark widths~(Γt\Gamma_t) and deviations from nominal jet energy scale~(ΔJES\Delta_{JES}) to perform a simultaneous fit for both parameters, where ΔJES\Delta_{JES} is used for the {\it in situ} calibration of the jet energy scale. By applying a Feldman-Cousins approach, we establish an upper limit at 95%\% confidence level~(CL) of Γt<\Gamma_t < 7.6 GeV and a two-sided 68%\% CL interval of 0.3 GeV <Γt<< \Gamma_t < 4.4 GeV for a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV/c2/c^2, which are consistant with the standard model prediction. This is the first direct measurement of Γt\Gamma_t to set a lower limit with 68%\% CL.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1008.3891,
  title  = {Direct Top-Quark Width Measurement CDF},
  author = {CDF Collaboration and T. Aaltonen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1008.3891},
  year   = {2010}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-21T16:04:09.983Z