Measurement of the Differential Cross Section $d{\sigma}/d(\cos {\theta}t)$ for Top-Quark Pair Production in $p-\bar{p}$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV

The CDF collaboration Aaltonen, T. ; Amerio, S. ; Amidei, D. ; et al.
Phys.Rev.Lett. 111 (2013) 182002, 2013.
Inspire Record 1238100 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.64392

We report a measurement of the differential cross section, d{\sigma}/d(cos {\theta}t), for top-quark-pair production as a function of the top-quark production angle in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV. This measurement is performed using data collected with the CDF II detector at the Tevatron, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.4/fb. We employ the Legendre polynomials to characterize the shape of the differential cross section at the parton level. The observed Legendre coefficients are in good agreement with the prediction of the next-to-leading-order standard-model calculation, with the exception of an excess linear-term coefficient, a1 = 0.40 +- 0.12, compared to the standard-model prediction of a1 = 0.15^{+0.07}_{-0.03}.

1 data table

The parton-level Legendre moments for the measured angular distribution of the momentum direction of the t-quark from the momentum direction of the incoming proton.