Search for first-generation leptoquarks in the jets and missing transverse energy topology in proton-antiproton collisions at center-of-mass energy 1.96 TeV

The author performed a search for the pair production of first-generation leptoquarks using 191 pb-1 of proton-antiproton collision data recorded by the CDF experiment during Run II of the Tevatron. The leptoquarks are sought via their decay into a neutrino and quark, which yields missing transverse energy and several high-ET jets. Several control regions were studied to check the background estimation from Standard Model sources, with good agreement observed in data. In the leptoquark signal region, 124 events were observed with 118.3 ± 14.5 expected from background. Therefore, no evidence for leptoquark production was observed, and limits were set on the cross section times the squared branching ratio. Using the next-to-leading order cross section for leptoquark production, they excluded the mass interval 78 to 117 GeV//c2 at the 95% confidence level for 100% branching ratio into neutrino plus quark