Getting to Higgs

Checking for Candidate Events
The Tevatron produces millions of collisions each second at CDF and DZero. The detectors detect most but not all of these collisions. When a collision is detected, computers must decide if the event is an interesting one for the current study. (While this decision is being made, the detector cannot process another event. Also, the detector needs a little time to recover from one event before detecting another. That is why the detector cannot detect all the collisions. Physicists try to minimize this down time.)

To decide if an event is interesting, computers perform a quick preliminary data analysis looking for certain characteristics. This is done in a series of tests. Only if the event passes these tests does it "trigger" the computer to write the event to tape for further analysis. (In the case of the top quark, Run I lasted for several years producing millions of collisions per second. CDF wrote 50 million interesting events to tape and found 43 that were consistent with top.)

What tests do physicists use for a Higgs event? According to the Standard Model, the Higgs is created with a W and other particles. Both Higgs and W quickly decay so physicists look for their decay products. The physicists want to "tag" events with evidence of 2 b quarks and the electron and neutrino signature for a W.

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