The top quark is by far the heaviest known fundamental particle with a mass nearing that of a gold atom. Because of this strikingly high mass, the top quark has several unique properties and might play an important role in electroweak symmetry breaking—the mechanism that gives all elementary particles mass. Creating top quarks requires access to very high energy collisions, and at present only the Tevatron collider at Fermilab is capable of reaching these energies. Until now, top quarks have only been observed produced in pairs via the strong interaction. At hadron colliders, it should also be possible to produce single top quarks via the electroweak interaction. Studies of single top quark production provide opportunities to measure the top quark spin, how top quarks mix with other quarks, and to look for new physics beyond the standard model. Because of these interesting properties, scientists have been looking for single top quarks for more than 15 years. This thesis presents the first discovery of single top quark production. It documents one of the flagship measurements of the D0 experiment, a collaboration of more than 600 physicists from around the world. It describes first observation of a physical process known as “single top quark production”, which had been sought for more than 10 years before its eventual discovery in 2009. Further, his thesis describes, in detail, the innovative approach Dr. Gillberg took to this analysis. Through the use of Boosted Decision Trees, a machine-learning technique, he observed the tiny single top signal within an otherwise overwhelming background. This Doctoral Thesis has been accepted by Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada.

It is known that the LHC has a considerable discovery potential because of its large centre-of-mass energy (vs =14 TeV) and the high design luminosity. In addition, the two experiments ATLAS and CMS perform precision measurements for numerous models in physics. The increasing experimental precision demands an even higher level of accuracy on the theoretical side. For a more precise prediction of outcomes, one has to consider the corrections obtained typically from Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). The calculation of these corrections in the high energy regime is described by perturbation theory. In the present study, multi-loop calculations in QCD, including in particular two-loop corrections for single top quark production, are considered. There are several phenomenological motivations to study single top quark production: Firstly, the process is sensitive to the electroweak Wtb-vertex; moreover, non-standard couplings can hint at physics beyond the Standard Model. Secondly, the t-channel cross section measurement provides information on the b-quark Parton Distribution Functions (PDF). Finally, single top quark production enables us to directly measure the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa(CKM) matrix element Vtb. The next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) calculation of the single top quark production has many building blocks. In this study, two blocks will be presented: one-loop corrections squared and two-loop corrections interfered with Born. Initially, the one-loop squared contribution at NNLO for single top quark production will be calculated. Before we begin with the calculation of the two-loop corrections to single top quark production, we calculate the QCD form factors of heavy quarks at NNLO, along with the axial vector coupling as a first independent check. A comparison with the relevant literature suggests that this approach is in line with generally accepted procedure. This consistency check provides a proof of the validity of our setup. In the next step, the two-loop corrections to single top quark production will be calculated. After reducing all occurring tensor integrals to scalar integrals, we apply the integration by parts method (IBP) to find the master integrals. This step is a major challenge compared to all similar calculations because of the number of variables in the problem (two Mandelstam variables s and t, the dimension d and the mass of the top quark mt as well as the mass of the W boson mw). Finally, the calculation of the three kinds of topologies – vertex corrections, double boxes and non-planar double boxes – in the two-loop contribution at NNLO calculation will be presented.

In an epoch when particle physics is awaiting a major step forward, the Large Hydron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva will soon be operational. It will collide a beam of high energy protons with another similar beam circulation in the same 27 km tunnel but in the opposite direction, resulting in the production of many elementary particles some never created in the laboratory before. It is widely expected that the LHC will discover the Higgs boson, the particle which supposedly lends masses to all other fundamental particles. In addition, the question as to whether there is some new law of physics at such high energy is likely to be answered through this experiment. The present volume contains a collection of articles written by international experts, both theoreticians and experimentalists, from India and abroad, which aims to acquaint a non-specialist with some basic issues related to the LHC. At the same time, it is expected to be a useful, rudimentary companion of introductory exposition and technical expertise alike, and it is hoped to become unique in its kind. The fact that there is substantial Indian involvement in the entire LHC endeavour, at all levels including fabrication, physics analysis procedures as well as theoretical studies, is also amply brought out in the collection.

This will be a required acquisition text for academic libraries. More than ten years after its discovery, still relatively little is known about the top quark, the heaviest known elementary particle. This extensive survey summarizes and reviews top-quark physics based on the precision measurements at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, as well as examining in detail the sensitivity of these experiments to new physics. Finally, the author provides an overview of top quark physics at the Large Hadron Collider.

The recent observation of the Higgs boson has been hailed as the scientific discovery of the century and led to the 2013 Nobel Prize in physics. This book describes the detailed science behind the decades-long search for this elusive particle at the Large Electron Positron Collider at CERN and at the Tevatron at Fermilab and its subsequent discovery and characterization at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Written by physicists who played leading roles in this epic search and discovery, this book is an authoritative and pedagogical exposition of the portrait of the Higgs boson that has emerged from a large number of experimental measurements. As the first of its kind, this book should be of interest to graduate students and researchers in particle physics.

This book contains pedagogical lectures on both theoretical and experimental particle physics, cosmology, and atomic trap physics. Numerous additional contributions provide up-to-date information on new experimental results from accelerators, underground laboratories, and nuclear astrophysics. This combination of pedagogical talks and topical short discussions presents a comprehensive amount of information and latest developments to researchers.

Before any kind of new physics discovery could be made at the LHC, a precise understanding and measurement of the Standard Model of particle physics' processes was necessary. The book provides an introduction to top quark production in the context of the Standard Model and presents two such precise measurements of the production of top quark pairs in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV that were observed with the ATLAS Experiment at the LHC. The presented measurements focus on events with one charged lepton, missing transverse energy and jets. Using novel and advanced analysis techniques as well as a good understanding of the detector, they constitute the most precise measurements of the quantity at that time.