This dissertation presents a measurement of the top quark mass by application of the Dalitz-Goldstein method to dilepton tt ̄ events. The events were produced by the Tevatron Collider at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) via pp ̄ collisions with s = 1.8 TeV. The dilepton event sample was extracted from 109 pb --1 of data collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) from August 1992 to July 1995. The sample contains a total of 9 candidate events, 2.4 of which are expected from background. Included in the dilepton final state are two neutrinos, which elude detection. This analysis constrains the problem by assuming an initial value for the top quark mass and solving for the neutrino momenta via a geometrical construction developed by D. H. Dalitz and G. Goldstein. The top quark mass is sampled over a wide range of possible values and the most likely mass consistent with the data is chosen via a likelihood function. An important distinguishing feature of this mass fitting technique is its lack of dependence on missing transverse energy, a kinematic variable that is poorly measured by experiment. This analysis determines the top quark mass to be Mtop = 157.1 +/- 10.9(stat.) +/- 4.33.7 (syst.) GeV/c2.

The Evidence for the Top Quark offers both a historical and philosophical perspective on an important recent discovery in particle physics: the first evidence for the elementary particle known as the top quark. Drawing on published reports, oral histories, and internal documents from the large collaboration that performed the experiment, Kent Staley explores in detail the controversies and politics that surrounded this major scientific result.At the same time the book seeks to defend an objective theory of scientific evidence based on error probabilities.

The main pacemakers of scienti?c research are curiosity, ingenuity, and a pinch of persistence. Equipped with these characteristics a young researcher will be s- cessful in pushing scienti?c discoveries. And there is still a lot to discover and to understand. In the course of understanding the origin and structure of matter it is now known that all matter is made up of six types of quarks. Each of these carry a different mass. But neither are the particular mass values understood nor is it known why elementary particles carry mass at all. One could perhaps accept some small generic mass value for every quark, but nature has decided differently. Two quarks are extremely light, three more have a somewhat typical mass value, but one quark is extremely massive. It is the top quark, the heaviest quark and even the heaviest elementary particle that we know, carrying a mass as large as the mass of three iron nuclei. Even though there exists no explanation of why different particle types carry certain masses, the internal consistency of the currently best theory—the standard model of particle physics—yields a relation between the masses of the top quark, the so-called W boson, and the yet unobserved Higgs particle. Therefore, when one assumes validity of the model, it is even possible to take precise measurements of the top quark mass to predict the mass of the Higgs (and potentially other yet unobserved) particles.

This dissertation describes a measurement of the mass of the top quark using a method developed by G. Goldstein and R.H. Dalitz. It is based on 2.0 fb−1 of data collected by the Collider Detector Facility at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratories. Di-lepton events were observed from colliding protons with anti-protons with √s = 1.96 TeV in the Tevatron Collider. A total of 145 candidate events were observed with 49 expected to be from background. These events include two neutrinos which elude detection. The method begins by assuming an initial top quark mass and solves for the neutrino momenta using a geometrical construction. The method samples over a range of likely top quark masses choosing the most consistent mass via a likelihood function. An important distinguishing feature of this method from others is its lack of dependence on the missing transverse energy, a quantity that is poorly measured by the experiment. This analysis determines the top quark mass to be M{sub top} = 172.3 ± 3.4(stat.) ± 2.0(syst.) GeV/c2 (M{sub top} = 170.5 ± 3.7(stat.) ± 1.8(syst.) GeV/c2 with b-tagging).

We demonstrate a new likelihood method for extracting the top quark mass from events of the type {ital t}{ital {anti t}} --> {ital b}W({ital lepton+{nu}}){ital {anti b}}W−({ital lepton+{nu}}). This method estimates the top quark mass correctly from an ensemble of dilepton events. The method proposed by Dalitz and Goldstein is shown to result in a systematic underestimation of the top quark mass. Effects due to the spin correlations between the top and anti-top quarks are shown to be unimportant in estimating the mass of the top quark.

The top quark, discovered in 1995 by the CDF and D0 experiments at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, is the heaviest known fundamental particle. The precise knowledge of its mass yields important constraints on the mass of the yet-unobserved Higgs boson and allows to probe for physics beyond the Standard Model. The first measurement of the top quark mass in the dilepton channel with the Matrix Element method at the D0 experiment is presented. After a short description of the experimental environment and the reconstruction chain from hits in the detector to physical objects, a detailed review of the Matrix Element method is given. The Matrix Element method is based on the likelihood to observe a given event under the assumption of the quantity to be measured, e.g. the mass of the top quark. The method has undergone significant modifications and improvements compared to previous measurements in the lepton+jets channel: the two undetected neutrinos require a new reconstruction scheme for the four-momenta of the final state particles, the small event sample demands the modeling of additional jets in the signal likelihood, and a new likelihood is designed to account for the main source of background containing tauonic Z decay. The Matrix Element method is validated on Monte Carlo simulated events at the generator level. For the measurement, calibration curves are derived from events that are run through the full D0 detector simulation. The analysis makes use of the Run II data set recorded between April 2002 and May 2008 corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.8 fb−1. A total of 107 t{bar t} candidate events with one electron and one muon in the final state are selected. Applying the Matrix Element method to this data set, the top quark mass is measured to be m{sub top}{sup Run IIa} = 170.6 ± 6.1(stat.){sub -1.5}{sup +2.1}(syst.)GeV; m{sub top}{sup Run IIb} = 174.1 ± 4.4(stat.){sub -1.8}{sup +2.5}(syst.)GeV; m{sub top}{sup comb} = 172.9 ± 3.6(stat.) ± 2.3(syst.)GeV. Systematic uncertainties are discussed, and the results are interpreted within the Standard Model of particle physics. As the main systematic uncertainty on the top quark mass comes from the knowledge of the absolute jet energy scale, studies for a simultaneous measurement of the top quark mass and the b jet energy scale are presented. The prospects that such a simultaneous determination offer for future measurements of the top quark mass are outlined.

'Dorigo provides an engaging and insightful perspective on the pursuit of physics discoveries at CDF … Dorigo’s book is thus almost certainly going to be an important source for anyone interested in the history of CDF … It is a personal yet highly informative story of discovery and almost-discovery from the perspective of someone who saw the events firsthand.'Physics TodayFrom the mid-1980s, an international collaboration of 600 physicists embarked on the investigation of subnuclear physics at the high-energy frontier. As well as discovering the top quark, the heaviest elementary particle ever observed, the physicists analyzed their data to seek signals of new physics which could revolutionize our understanding of nature.Anomaly! tells the story of that quest, and focuses specifically on the finding of several unexplained effects which were unearthed in the process. These anomalies proved highly controversial within the large team: to some collaborators they called for immediate publication, while to others their divulgation threatened to jeopardize the reputation of the experiment.Written in a confidential, narrative style, this book looks at the sociology of a large scientific collaboration, providing insight in the relationships between top physicists at the turn of the millennium. The stories offer an insider's view of the life cycle of the 'failed' discoveries that unavoidably accompany even the greatest endeavors in modern particle physics.

The 32nd International Conference on High Energy Physics belongs to the Rochester Conference Series, and is the most important international conference in 2004 on high energy physics. The proceedings provide a comprehensive review on the recent developments in experimental and theoretical particle physics. The latest results on Top, Higgs search, CP violation, neutrino mixing, pentaquarks, heavy quark mesons and baryons, search for new particles and new phenomena, String theory, Extra dimension, Black hole and Lattice calculation are discussed extensively. The topics covered include not only those of main interest to the high energy physics community, but also recent research and future plans. Contents: Neutrino Masses and MixingsQuark Matter and Heavy Ion CollisionsParticle Astrophysics and CosmologyElectroweak PhysicsQCD Hard InteractionsQCD Soft InteractionsComputational Quantum Field TheoryCP Violation, Rare Kaon Decay and CKMR&D for Future Accelerator and DetectorHadron Spectroscopy and ExoticsHeavy Quark Mesons and BaryonsBeyond the Standard ModelString Theory Readership: Experimental and theoretical physicists and graduate students in the fields of particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics and cosmology.Keywords:High Energy Physics;Particle Physics;Electroweak;QCD;Heavy Quark;Neutrino;Particle Astrophysics;Hadron Spectroscopy;CP Violation;Quark Matter;Future Accelerator