Quasi-model-independent search for new physics at large transverse momentum

Abstract

We apply a quasi-model-independent strategy ("SLEUTH") to search for new high p_T physics in ≈100 pb^-1 of pp̅ collisions at √s=1.8TeV collected by the DØ experiment during 1992–1996 at the Fermilab Tevatron. Over 32 eμX, W+jets-like, Z+jets-like, and (l/γ)(l/γ)(l/γ)X exclusive final states are systematically analyzed for hints of physics beyond the standard model. Simultaneous sensitivity to a variety of models predicting new phenomena at the electroweak scale is demonstrated by testing the method on a particular signature in each set of final states. No evidence of new high p_T physics is observed in the course of this search, and we find that 89% of an ensemble of hypothetical similar experimental runs would have produced a final state with a candidate signal more interesting than the most interesting observed in these data.