Using Collider Event Topology in the Search for the Six-Jet Decay of Top Quark-Antiquark Pairs

Abstract

We investigate the use of the event topology as a tool in the search for the six-jet decay of top-pair production in proton-antiproton collisions at 1.8 TeV. Modified Fox-Wolfram "shape" variables, H_i, are employed to help distinguish the top-pair signal from the ordinary QCD multi-jet background. The H's can be constructed directly from the calorimeter cells or from jets. Events are required to lie in a region of H-space defined by L_i < H_i < R_i for i=1,...,,6, where the left, L_i, and right, R_i, cuts are determined by a genetic algorithm (GA) procedure to maximize the signal over the square root of the background. We are able to reduce the background over the signal to less than a factor of 100 using purely topological methods without using jet multiplicity cuts and without the aid of b-quark tagging.