Progress in Top Quark Physics

Experimental measurements of the properties of the top quark have improved and will continue to improve significantly, with the excellent operation of the CDF and D0 experiments and the Tevatron pp-bar collider at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. All of the final state experimental signatures from top quark production and decay are being analysed to test if this most massive quark is sensitive to new physics beyond the standard model. So far, observations are consistent with the standard model. New techniques have dramatically improved the precision of the top quark mass measurement to 1.7% and set the stage for a sub-1% measurement by 2008. This improved knowledge of the top quark mass sharpens the standard model prediction for the mass of the undiscovered Higgs boson, with implications for Higgs studies at the future LHC and ILC