Measurement of the t-channel single top-quark production cross section in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

ATLAS Collaboration

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    We report a measurement of the cross section of single top-quark production in the t-channel using 1.04 fb^-1 of pp collision data at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Selected events feature one electron or muon, missing transverse momentum, and two or three jets, exactly one of them identified as originating from a b quark. The cross section is measured by fitting the distribution of a multivariate discriminant constructed with a neural network, yielding sigma(t)= 83 +/- 4 (stat.) +20 -19 (syst) pb which is in good agreement with the prediction of the Standard Model. Using the ratio of the measured to the theoretically predicted cross section and assuming that the top-quark-related CKM matrix elements obey the relation |V(tb)| >> |V(ts)|, |V(td)|, the coupling strength at the W-t-b vertex is determined to be |V(tb)| = 1.13 +0.14 -0.13. If it is assumed that |V(tb)| <= 1 a lower limit of |V(tb)|>0.75 is obtained at the 95% confidence level.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)330-350
    Number of pages21
    JournalPhysics Letters. Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
    Volume717
    Issue number4-5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 31 Oct 2012

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