Measurement of CKM matrix elements in single top quark t-channel production in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV

Abstract

The CMS Collaboration: et al. ; The first direct, model-independent measurement is presented of the modulus of the Cabibbo–Kobayashi–Maskawa (CKM) matrix elements |Vtb|, |Vtd|, and |Vts|, in final states enriched in single top quark t-channel events. The analysis uses proton-proton collision data from the LHC, collected during 2016 by the CMS experiment, at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. Processes directly sensitive to these matrix elements are considered at both the production and decay vertices of the top quark. In the standard model hypothesis of CKM unitarity, a lower limit of |Vtb| >0.970 is measured at the 95% confidence level. Several theories beyond the standard model are considered, and by releasing all constraints among the involved parameters, the values |Vtb| =0.988 ±0.024, and |Vtd|2+|Vts|2=0.06 ±0.06, where the uncertainties include both statistical and systematic components, are measured ; Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie programme and the European Research Council and Horizon 2020 Grant, contract Nos. 675440, 752730, and 765710 (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office; the Fonds pour la Formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA-Belgium); the Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (IWT-Belgium); the F.R.S.-FNRS and FWO (Belgium) under the "Excellence of Science – EOS" – be.h project n. 30820817; the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission, No. Z191100007219010; The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) of the Czech Republic; the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under Germany's Excellence Strategy – EXC 2121 "Quantum Universe" – 390833306; the Lendület ("Momentum") Programme and the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the New National Excellence Program ÚNKP, the NKFIA research grants 123842, 123959, 124845, 124850, 125105, 128713, 128786, and 129058 (Hungary); the Council of Science and Industrial Research, India; the HOMING PLUS programme of the Foundation for Polish Science, cofinanced from European Union, European Regional Development Fund, the Mobility Plus programme of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the National Science Center (Poland), contracts Harmonia 2014/14/M/ST2/00428, Opus 2014/13/B/ST2/02543, 2014/15/B/ST2/03998, and 2015/19/ B/ST2/02861, Sonata-bis 2012/07/E/ST2/01406; the National Priorities Research Program by Qatar National Research Fund; the Ministry of Science and Education, grant no. 14.W03.31.0026 (Russia); the Tomsk Polytechnic University Competitiveness Enhancement Program and "Nauka" Project FSWW-2020-0008 (Russia); the Programa Estatal de Fomento de la Investigación Científica y Técnica de Excelencia María de Maeztu, grant MDM-2015-0509 and the Programa Severo Ochoa del Principado de Asturias; the Thalis and Aristeia programmes cofinanced by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF; the Rachadapisek Sompot Fund for Postdoctoral Fellowship, Chulalongkorn University and the Chulalongkorn Academic into Its 2nd Century Project Advancement Project (Thailand); The Kavli Foundation; the Nvidia Corporation; the SuperMicro Corporation; The Welch Foundation, contract C-1845; and the Weston Havens Foundation (USA). ; Peer reviewed