Search for single top production using multivariate analyses at CDF

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This article reports on recent searches for single-top-quark production by the CDF collaboration at the Tevatron using a data set that corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 955 fb-1. Three different analyses techniques are employed, one using likelihood discriminants, one neural networks and one matrix elements. The sensitivity to single-top production at the rate predicted by the standard model ranges from 2.1 to 2.6 sigma. While the first two analyses observe a deficit of single-top like events compared to the expectation, the matrix element method observes an excess corresponding to a background fluctuation of 2.3 sigma. The null results of the likelihood and neural network analyses translate in upper limits on the cross section of 2.6 pb for the t-channel production mode and 3.7 pb for the s-channel mode at the 95% C.L. The matrix element result corresponds to a measurement of 2.7⁺¹.⁵₋₁.₃ pb for the combined t- and s-channel single-top cross section. In addition, CDF has searched for non-standard model production of single-top-quarks via the s-channel exchange of a heavy W' boson. No signal of this process is found resulting in lower mass limits of 760 GeV/c² in case the mass of the right-handed neutrino is smaller than the mass of the right-handed W' or 790 GeV/c² in the opposite case.