A study of the ability of the D0 detector to measure the single jet inclusive cross-section

The D0 experiment began accumulating data at the Fermilab Tevatron in May of 1992. Protons are collided with antiprotons at √s = 1.8 TeV and an expected peak luminosity of 5 x 1030 cm-2 sec -1. The D0 detector is an all-purpose detector that will have exceptional jet reconstruction capabilities derived from superior calorimetry and nearly 4π angular coverage. One of the many physics measurements that will be made at D0 is the inclusive jet cross section. Comparison of this cross section with theoretical predictions allows the author 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 D0 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. The author has studied extensive compute simulations of both the Tevatron and the D0 detector in order to determine D0's ability to reconstruct the inclusive cross section. The author presents a discussion of this analysis as presently understood