Sneha Malde

Abstract:

We present a measurement of the fractions F0 and F+ of longitudinally polarized and right-handed W bosons in top-quark decays using data collected with the CDF II detector. The data set used in the analysis corresponds to an integrated luminosity of approximately 318pb-1. We select tt̄ candidate events with one lepton, at least four jets, and missing transverse energy. Our helicity measurement uses the decay angle θ*, which is defined as the angle between the momentum of the charged lepton in the W boson rest frame and the W momentum in the top-quark rest frame. The cos θ* distribution in the data is determined by full kinematic reconstruction of the tt̄ candidates. We find F0=0.85-0.22+0.15(stat)±0.06(syst) and F+=0.05-0.05+0.11(stat)±0.03(syst), which is consistent with the standard model prediction. We set an upper limit on the fraction of right-handed W bosons of F+<0.26 at the 95% confidence level. © 2007 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

We present the first observation of exclusive e+e- production in hadron-hadron collisions, using pp̄ collision data at s=1.96TeV taken by the run II Collider Detector at Fermilab, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 532pb-1. We require the absence of any particle signatures in the detector except for an electron and a positron candidate, each with transverse energy ET>5GeV and pseudorapidity |η|<2. With these criteria, 16 events are observed compared to a background expectation of 1.9±0.3 events. These events are consistent in cross section and properties with the QED process pp̄→p+e+e-+p̄ through two-photon exchange. The measured cross section is 1.6-0.3+0.5(stat)±0.3(syst)pb. This agrees with the theoretical prediction of 1.71±0.01pb. © 2007 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

We report a measurement of the top-quark mass, Mt, in the dilepton decay channel of tt̄→b ′+ν ′b̄ -ν̄ using an integrated luminosity of 1.0fb-1 of pp̄ collisions collected with the CDF II detector. We apply a method that convolutes a leading-order matrix element with detector resolution functions to form event-by-event likelihoods; we have enhanced the leading-order description to describe the effects of initial-state radiation. The joint likelihood is the product of the likelihoods from 78 candidate events in this sample, which yields a measurement of Mt=164.5±3.9(stat.)±3.9(syst.)GeV/c2, the most precise measurement of Mt in the dilepton channel. © 2007 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

We report an upper limit on the fraction of V+A current, fV+A, in top-quark decays, using approximately 700pb-1 of pp̄ collisions at s=1.96TeV acquired by the upgraded Collider Detector at Fermilab. For the decay t→Wb→ νb (where =e or μ), the invariant mass of the charged lepton and the bottom quark jet is sensitive to the polarization of the W boson. We determine fV+A=-0.06±0.25 given a top-quark mass of 175GeV/c2. We set an upper limit on fV+A of 0.29 at the 95% confidence level, an improvement by a factor of 2 on the previous best direct limit. © 2007 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

Using 355 pb;{-1} of data collected by the CDF II detector in pp[over ] collisions at sqrt[s]=1.96 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron, we study the fully reconstructed hadronic decays B_{(s)};{0}-->D_{(s)};{-}pi;{+} and B_{(s)};{0}-->D_{(s)};{-}pi;{+}pi;{+}pi;{-}. We present the first measurement of the ratio of branching fractions B(B_{s};{0}-->D_{s};{-}pi;{+}pi;{+}pi;{-})/B(B;{0}-->D;{-}pi;{+}pi;{+}pi;{-})=1.05+/-0.10(stat)+/-0.22(syst). We also update our measurement of B(B_{s};{0}-->D_{s};{-}pi;{+})/B(B;{0}-->D;{-}pi;{+}) to 1.13+/-0.08(stat)+/-0.23(syst), improving the statistical uncertainty by more than a factor of 2. We find B(B_{s};{0}-->D_{s};{-}pi;{+})=[3.8+/-0.3(stat)+/-1.3(syst)]x10;{-3} and B(B_{s};{0}-->D_{s};{-}pi;{+}pi;{+}pi;{-})=[8.4+/-0.8(stat)+/-3.2(syst)]x10;{-3}.