Evidence for Top Quark Production in $\bar{p}p$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.8$ TeV

Abstract

We summarize a search for the top quark with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) in a sample of $\bar{p}p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$= 1.8 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 19.3~pb$^{-1}$. We find 12 events consistent with either two $W$ bosons, or a $W$ boson and at least one $b$ jet. The probability that the measured yield is consistent with the background is 0.26%. Though the statistics are too limited to establish firmly the existence of the top quark, a natural interpretation of the excess is that it is due to $t\bar{t}$ production. Under this assumption, constrained fits to individual events yield a top quark mass of $174 \pm 10^{+13}_{-12}$ GeV/c$^2$. The $t\bar{t}$ production cross section is measured to be $13.9^{+6.1}_{-4.8}$~pb. (Submitted to Physical Review Letters on May 16, 1994).