Analytic Solutions for Neutrino Momenta in Decay of Top Quarks
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Analytic solutions for neutrino momenta in decay of top quarks Burton A. Betchart∗, Regina Demina, Amnon Harel Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, United States of America Abstract We employ a geometric approach to analytically solving equations of constraint on the decay of top quarks involving leptons. The neutrino momentum is found as a function of the 4-vectors of the associated bottom quark and charged lepton, the masses of the top quark and W boson, and a single parameter, which constrains it to an ellipse. We show how the measured imbalance of momenta in the event reduces the solutions for neutrino momenta to a discrete set, in the cases of one or two top quarks decaying to leptons. The algorithms can be implemented concisely with common linear algebra routines. Keywords: top, neutrino, reconstruction, analytic 1. Introduction decay of the intermediate W boson falls outside experimental acceptance. Top quark reconstruction from channels containing one or more leptons presents a challenge since the neutrinos are not directly observed. The sum of neutrino momenta can be in- 2. Derivation ferred from the total momentum imbalance, but this quantity The kinematics of top quark decay constrain the W boson frequently has the worst resolution of all constraints on top momentum vector to an ellipsoidal surface of revolution about quark decays. Reconstruction at hadron colliders faces fur- an axis coincident with bottom quark momentum. Simultane- ther difficulties, since the longitudinal momentum is uncon- ously, the kinematics of W boson decay constrain the W boson strained. In a common approach to the single neutrino final momentum vector to an ellipsoidal surface of revolution about state at hadron colliders (e.g. [1]), constraining the invariant an axis coincident with the momentum of the resulting charged mass of the neutrino and associated charged lepton to the W lepton. The intersection of the two surfaces is an ellipse. The boson mass provides a quadratic equation for the unmeasured neutrino momentum is consequently constrained to a transla- longitudinal component of neutrino momentum, with zero so- tion of the ellipse, for which a parametric expression in the lab- lutions, or two solutions which can be further resolved heuris- oratory coordinate system is given. The measured momentum tically by consideration of additional constraints. We suggest imbalance further constrains solutions to a discrete set for the an alternative approach to analytic top quark reconstruction in cases of one or two top quark decays involving neutrinos. which the invariant mass constraints from the top quark and the W boson are both exact, and in which the solution set for each 2.1. Definitions neutrino momentum is an ellipse. For events with a single neu- trino, the ellipse is analytically reduced to a unique solution by A particle q is described by its mass mq, energy Eq, and application of the momentum imbalance constraint, taking its momentum 3-vector pq, with the dispersion relation uncertainty into account. The approach extends naturally to the 2 2 2 mq = Eq − pq: arXiv:1305.1878v2 [hep-ph] 2 Oct 2013 case of two neutrinos in the final state, allowing an alternative method for calculating the solution pairs previously described The magnitude of the momentum is p . Since there will be no by [2, 3, 4], and suggesting a most likely pair in the case of no q need to denote positions, the Cartesian coordinates of the mo- exact solution. mentum p in the laboratory coordinate system are represented The solutions for the one- and two-neutrino cases are de- q as (xq; yq; zq) in order to avoid double subscripts. In the labora- rived in Section 2. Their use in simulated Tevatron and LHC tory coordinate system, the azimuthal and polar angles of q are events, in the context of iterative kinematic fit procedures, is denoted φ and θ , and the relativistic speed and Lorentz factor discussed in Section 3. These results may also be useful for any q q are q event topology with similar kinematic constraints, including de- pq −1 mq 2 βq ≡ ; γq ≡ = 1 − βq: cays involving new physics with massive invisible particles, and Eq Eq hadronic decays of top quarks where one of the quarks from the For definiteness we consider the decay chain t ! bW ! bµν: a top quark (t) decays to a bottom quark (b) and a W boson ∗[email protected] (W), with subsequent decay of the W boson to a muon (µ) and Preprint submitted to Elsevier October 3, 2013 Incorporating relations (1) for the F0 coordinates, it is clear that pW is constrained to the surface 0 2 02 02 0 0 2 02 (x ˜ /γb) + y˜ + z˜ + 2βb x˜0 x˜ + mW − x˜0 = 0; (3) which is an ellipsoid of revolution about thex ˜0-axis. Particle W subsequently decays to particles µ and ν. This decay has the same kinematics as the decay t ! bW, with the substitutions b ! µ,W ! ν, and t ! W. We define the W decay analog of Equation 2, 1 2 2 2 x˜0 ≡ − mW − mµ − mν : 2Eµ In analogy to Equation 3 and using F coordinates, pν is con- strained to the surface (x ˜/γ )2 + y˜2 + z˜2 + 2β x˜ x˜ + m2 − x˜2 = 0; (4) Figure 1: The momenta of observed particles µ and b define the coordinate µ µ 0 ν 0 systems F and F0. A possible momentum of the W boson is drawn to show the angle θbW. which is an ellipsoid of revolution about thex ˜-axis. A congru- ent surface of solutions for pW is translated from the neutrino solutions (4) by +pµ along thex ˜-axis, a neutrino (ν). We assume established masses for all five parti- cles, for example from world average measurements[5]. Energy 2 2 2 2 h 2 2 2i (x ˜/γµ) + y˜ + z˜ + 2βµS x˜ x˜ + m − x˜ − = 0; (5) and momentum conservation for this system imply W 0 where for compactness and later use we have defined Et = Eb + EW = Eb + Eµ + Eν; pt = pb + pW = pb + pµ + pν: −2 2 S x˜ = x˜0βµ − pµγµ /βµ; (6) Momentum coordinate systems Ffx˜; y˜; z˜g and F0fx˜0; y˜0; z˜0g 2 −2 2 2 are defined in the laboratory reference frame to share a common = γµ mW − mν : z z0 F0 F axis ˜ = ˜ . Coordinate system is rotated relative to by the The solution set for p is the intersection of two simultaneous θ p p p x p W angle bµ between b and µ, with µ along the ˜-axis, and b surfaces of constraint, (3) and (5), imposed by the b measure- x0 p F0 along the ˜ -axis. Polar and Cartesian coordinates of W in ment and the masses (m , m ), and the µ measurement and the are related as t W masses (mW, mν), respectively. Figure 2 shows examples. For 0 0 02 02 2 02 relativistic particles µ and b, the surfaces limit on paraboloids, x˜ = pWC ; y˜ + z˜ = p S ; (1) W W W W 2 S x˜ limits onx ˜0, and limits on zero. 0 0 where S (C ) is the (co)sine of the angle θbW between pW and pb. Figure 1 shows the coordinate systems. 2.3. Extended Matrix Representation The use of homogeneous coordinates r = ( x y 1 )T or 2.2. Two surfaces for W momentum s = ( x y z 1 )T allows extended matrix representation of Energy and momentum are conserved in the decay t ! bW, various 2- or 3-dimensional geometric objects. In particular, hence the 1 × 3 row matrix L is the extended representation of the line 2 2 2 Lr = 0 in two dimensions. A 3 × 3 symmetric square matrix M mt = Et − pt is the extended representation of the conic section rT Mr = 0 in = (E + E )2 − (p + p )2 b W b W two dimensions. A quadric surface in three dimensions, like a 2 2 0 = mb + mW + 2EbEW − 2pb pWC : paraboloid or ellipsoid, can be represented as a 4 × 4 symmet- T For compactness we define ric square matrix A, with s As = 0. Extended representations are unique up to a multiplicative factor, and allow transforma- 0 1 2 2 2 tions like rotations and translations to be expressed by matrix x˜0 ≡ − mt − mW − mb : (2) 2Eb multiplication[6, 7, 8]. It follows that The ellipsoid defined by particle b (3) is represented for ho- mogeneous F0 coordinates by the matrix 0 0 0 = x˜0 + EW − βb pWC 0 −2 0 1 2 h 0 0i2 B γb 0 0x ˜0βb C 0 = E − x˜ − βb pWC B C W 0 0 B 0 1 0 0 C A˜ = B C : m2 − x02 β p C0 x0 p2 − β2C02 b B 0 0 1 0 C 0 = W ˜0 + 2 b W ˜0 + W 1 b @B AC x˜0 β 0 0 m2 − x˜02 2 02 0 0 2 −2 02 02 0 b W 0 0 = mW − x˜0 + 2βb pWC x˜0 + pW γb C + S : 2 F coordinates: P+ slice of ~z = ~z ′= 0 ~ ~ (x 1,y 1,0) ~z , ~z ′ Lab coordinates: b projections on z=0 µ ~y y χ2 = 4.6 100 GeV/c P ~ (Sx~,Sy~) x x F coordinates: P+ slice of ~z = ~z ′= 0 ~ ~ (x 1,y 1,0) ~z , ~z ′ b Lab coordinates: projections on z=0 µ ~y P (Sx~,Sy~) y χ2 = 6.3 100 GeV/c ~x x Figure 2: Reconstruction of neutrino momentum from the decay t ! bµν for two events, with θbµ large (top) and small (bottom).