Measurement of the Z0 → $s\bar{s}$ Coupling at the SLD

Abstract

This dissertation presents a direct measurement of the parity-violating coupling of the Z{sup 0} to strange quarks, A{sub s}, derived from e{sup +}e{sup -} collision data containing approximately 550,000 hadronic decays of polarized Z{sup 0} bosons. Data were recorded with the SLC Large Detector (SLD) at the SLAC Linear Collider (SLC) between 1993 and 1998 with an average electron beam polarization of 73% and 74% during the 1993-5 and 1996-8 run periods, respectively. Making use of several unique features of the SLC and SLD, this measurement relies on a new generation particle identification system, the Cherenkov Ring Imaging Detector, to test the Standard Model prediction of universality in the coupling of the Z{sup 0} to down-type quarks. Polarized Z{sup 0} --> s anti-s events are tagged by the presence in each event hemisphere of a high-momentum K {+-}, K{sub s}{sup 0} or Lambda{sup 0}/ anti-Lambda{sup 0} identified using particle identification and/or a mass tag. The background from heavy flavor events is suppressed with the CCD-based vertex detector. The event thrust axis is signed with the strangeness of the tagged particle to point in the direction of the initial s quark. The coupling A{sub s} is derived from a maximum likelihood fit to the polar angle distributions of the tagged s quark measured with left- and right-handed electron beams. To reduce the model dependence of the measurement, the background from u anti-u and d anti-d events as well as the analyzing power of the method for s anti-s events are constrained from the data. We obtain A{sub s} = 0.86 {+-} 0.08(stat.) {+-} 0.05(syst.). The result is consistent with both the Standard Model prediction and previous bottom quark coupling mA{sub b}, measurements performed by SLD and LEP, and therefore supports the predicted universality of the Z{sup 0} to down-type quark couplings.