Single top quark production and Vtb at the Tevatron

Abstract

Single top quark production via the electroweak interaction was observed by the D0 and CDF collaborations at the Tevatron proton-antiproton collider at Fermilab. Multivariate analysis techniques are employed to extract the small single top quark signal. The combined Tevatron cross section is 2.76^+0.58_-0.47 pb. This corresponds to a lower limit on the CKM matrix element |Vtb| of 0.77. Also reported are measurements of the t-channel cross section, the top quark polarization in single top quark events, and limits on gluon-quark flavor-changing neutral currents and W' boson production.