A Study of the Ability of the D0 Detector to Measure the Single Jet Inclusive Cross-Section

Abstract

The DO experiment began accumulating data at the Fermilab Tevatron in May of 1992. Protons are collided with antiprotons at $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.8 TeV and an expected peak luminosity of $5x10^{30} cm^{-2} sec^{-1}$. The DO detector is an all-purpose detector that will have exceptional jet reconstruction capabilities derived from superior calorimetry and nearly 4n angular coverage. One of the many physics measurements l that will be made at DO is the inclusive jet cross section. Comparison of this cross section with theoretical predictions allows us to test the accuracy of the standard model of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). This comparison is usually in the form of a measurement of the differential cross section with respect to the transverse energy of the jet The extended angular coverage of the DO detector allows measurements of the differential cross section as a function of jet rapidity as well. Recently completed calculations of the next-to-leading-order contribution to the inclusive cross section result in predictions with reduced theoretical errors. In addition, recent fits to data from deep inelastic scattering and single photon experiments further restrict the quark and gluon structure functions of the proton which are necessary in the theoretical predictions of the cross section. It may be that an experimental measurement of the inclusive cross section would favor some of these fits over others. We have studied extensive computer simulations of both the Tevatron and the DO detector in order to determine DO's ability to reconstruct the inclusive cross section. We present a discussion of this analysis as presently understood. I