Inclusive jet production studies at the Tevatron using the CDF detector

Consultable des del TDXTítol obtingut de la portada digitalitzadaQCD es una teoría que gobierna la interacción fuerte entre quarks y gluones dentro de los hadrones, por ejemplo, protones y neutrones. Esta teoría tiene dos características: libertad asintótica y color confinamiento. La dependencia de la constante de acoplamiento con la escala es tal que esta decrece con la distancia entre partones. Esto permite realizar precisos cálculos teóricos a una gran escala de energía usando teoría de perturbaciones (pQCD). Además, la fuerza de la interacción incrementa con la distancia entre partones y gluones obligando que estos estén confinados en hadrones. En el acelerador Tevatron, protones y antiprotones colisionan a una alta energía. En estas colisiones se producen jets de hadrones colimados en la misma dirección de los quarks y gluones que han colisionado. La medida de la sección eficaz de producción de jets centrales constituye una prueba de las predicciones de pQCD en más de ocho órdenes de magnitud. Además la medida también es sensible a la distribución de los partones dentro del proton (PDFs). Medidas de la producción de jets a grandes rapidititis son importantes porque ayudan a restringir la incertidumbre en esas distribuciones de los partones en una región donde no se espera señal de nueva física. Esta tesis presenta la medida de producción de jets usando datos recogidos por el experimento CDF, uno de los detectores que estudia las colisiones en Tevatron. La medida esta hecha con un algoritmo muy preciso para buscar jets, relativamente nuevo en colisionadores hadrónicos. La medida esta comparada con predicciones de pQCD, donde los efectos de efectos no-perturbativos han sido incluidos. Los resultados demuestran que hay un excelente acuerdo entre la medida y la teoría, no mostrando señal de nueva física. Además, las incertidumbre es la medida son mas pequeñas que la teoría, cosa que indica que estas medidas pueden ser usadas para restringir las PDFs.QCD is the gauge theory that governs the strong interactions between quarks and gluons inside hadrons like, for example, protons and neutrons. It shows two well established characteristics, related to the non-abelian nature of the theory, that dominate its phenomenology: asymptotic freedom and color confinement. The dependence of the strong coupling with the hard scale is such that it decreases with decreasing the distance between partons. This allows performing precise theoretical calculations at large energy transfer using perturbative QCD (pQCD). In the other hand, the strength of the interaction increases with the distance between partons and thus colored quarks and gluons are forced to be confined inside colorless hadrons. At the Tevatron at Fermilab, protons and antiprotons collide at very high energy. In those collisions, collimated jets of hadrons are produced along the direction of struck quarks and gluons in the final state. The measurement of the inclusive jet production cross section provides a stringent test of pQCD predictions over almost nine orders of magnitude. In addition, the measurement is sensitive to the parton distribution in the proton (PDFs). Jet measurements at large rapidities are important because they constrain the gluon density in a region where no effect from new physics is expected. This PhD. Thesis presents a measurement of the inclusive jet production cross section using the new data collected by the CDF experiment in Run II, one of the detectors at Tevatron. The longitudinally invariant kT algorithm has been used in order to search for jets in the final state. The measurement is compared to pQCD NLO calculations where non-perturbative effects from the underlying event and the fragmentation of partons into jets of hadrons have been taken into account. The results show an excellent agreement between the measurements and the theory, without presenting signal for new physics. In addition the systematic uncertainties in the measurements are smaller than in the theory, indicating that these measurements can be used to constrain the PDFs

Measurement of the W+W- Production Cross Section in ppbar Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV using Dilepton Events

We present a measurement of the W+W- production cross section using 184/pb of ppbar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. Using the dilepton decay channel W+W- -> l+l-vvbar, where the charged leptons can be either electrons or muons, we find 17 candidate events compared to an expected background of 5.0+2.2-0.8 events. The resulting W+W- production cross section measurement of sigma(ppbar -> W+W-) = 14.6 +5.8 -5.1 (stat) +1.8 -3.0 (syst) +-0.9 (lum) pb agrees well with the Standard Model expectation.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables. To be submitted to Physical Review Letter

Search for large extra dimensions in the production of jets and missing transverse energy in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV

We present the results of a search for new physics in the jets plus missing transverse energy data sample collected from 368 pb(-1) of p (p) over bar collisions at root s = 1.96 TeV recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We compare the number of events observed in the data with a data-based estimate of the standard model backgrounds contributing to this signature. We observe no significant excess of events, and we interpret this null result in terms of lower limits on the fundamental Planck scale for a large extra dimensions scenario

Measurement of the W+W- production cross section in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV using dilepton events

We present a measurement of the W+W- production cross section using 184 pb(-1) of p (p) over bar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. Using the dilepton decay channel W+W-→ l(+)ν l(-)(ν) over bar, where the charged leptons can be either electrons or muons, we find 17 candidate events compared to an expected background of 5.0(-0.8)(+2.2) events. The resulting W+W- production cross-section measurement of σ(p (p) over bar → W+W-)=14.6(-5.1)(+5.8)(stat)(-3.0)(+1.8)(syst)± 0.9(lum) pb agrees well with the standard model expectation

Measurement of the D+D^+- Meson Production Cross Section at Low Transverse Momentum in ppˉp\bar{p} Collisions at s=1.96\sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV

International audienceWe report on a measurement of the D+-meson production cross section as a function of transverse momentum (pT) in proton-antiproton (pp¯) collisions at 1.96 TeV center-of-mass energy, using the full data set collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab in Tevatron Run II and corresponding to 10  fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We use D+→K-π+π+ decays fully reconstructed in the central rapidity region |y|<1 with transverse momentum down to 1.5  GeV/c, a range previously unexplored in pp¯ collisions. Inelastic pp¯-scattering events are selected online using minimally biasing requirements followed by an optimized offline selection. The K-π+π+ mass distribution is used to identify the D+ signal, and the D+ transverse impact-parameter distribution is used to separate prompt production, occurring directly in the hard-scattering process, from secondary production from b-hadron decays. We obtain a prompt D+ signal of 2950 candidates corresponding to a total cross section σ(D+,1.5<pT<14.5  GeV/c,|y|<1)=71.9±6.8(stat)±9.3(syst)  μb. While the measured cross sections are consistent with theoretical estimates in each pT bin, the shape of the observed pT spectrum is softer than the expectation from quantum chromodynamics. The results are unique in pp¯ collisions and can improve the shape and uncertainties of future predictions