The top quark is the third-generation up-type quark with a charge of +(2/3)e. It was observed in 1995 by the CDF and DØ experiments at Fermilab, and is by far the most massive of known elementary particles. Its mass is 40 times larger than the next heaviest quark and nearly as heavy as a gold nucleus. Within the Standard Model the top quark is produced through two main processes: pair production via strong interactions (observed in 1995) and single production via weak interactions. The DØ collaboration has recently shown evidence of the later but the significance of this measurement is not enough to claim a discovery. 

I am working towards the first experimental observation of top quark production via the electroweak force. I am motivated to perform a precise measurement of the single top production cross section and a direct measurement the CKM matrix element V_tb,one of the fundamental parameters of the Standard Model.

Academia
• PhD Thesis: Measurement of the top quark pair production cross section in pbar-p collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV , published in Phys. Rev. D 74, 112004 (2006)
• PhD Thesis presentation, March 2006, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA (pdf, ppt)
• CV (August 2007)

Conferences/External Talks
• Top Quark Physics at DØ, presented at the poster sesion of the 2007 U.S. Department of Energy Annual Program Review of Fermilab, September 2007, Batavia, Illinois, USA (pdf, ppt)
• Top Quark Production and Properties at DØ, presented at The 2007 Europhysics Conference in High Energy Physics, July 2007 Manchester, England (pdf, ppt)
• Measurement of the Top Quark Mass at DØ, presented at The 2007 Phenomenology Symposium: Prelude to the LHC, May 2007 Madison, Wisconsin, USA (pdf, ppt)
• Measurement of the Top Quark Production Cross Section at DØ using b-tagging, job interview presentation, May 2007, Batavia, Illinois, USA (pdf, ppt)
• Measurement of the ttbar Production Cross Section at DØ, presented at the Joint Meeting of Pacific Region Particle Physics Communities, November 2006, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA (pdf, ppt)
• ttbar Production in Lepton + Jets at DØ, presented at the DØ 2006 Summer Physics Workshop, July 2006, Batavia, Illinois, USA (pdf, ppt)
• ttbar Production in the Lepton + Jets and Alljets Channels at DØ, presented at the DØ 2005 Summer Physics Workshop, June 2005, Batavia, Illinois, USA (pdf, ppt)
• Measurement of the Top Quark Pair Production Cross Section in Lepton + Jets Final States at DØ using Lifetime Tagging, presented at the 2005 American Physical Society April Meeting, April 2005, Tampa, Florida, USA (pdf, ppt)
• The RunIIb DØ Silicon Microstrip Tracker, presented at New Perspectives 2003, June 2003, Batavia, Illinois, USA
• Design of an upgraded DØ Silicon Microstrip Tracker for Fermilab RunIIb, presented at the 2003 American Physical Society April Meeting, April 2003, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Papers
• Selected Publications:
  • Phys. Rev. D 74, 112004 (2006) Measurement of the t tbar Cross Section in p pbar Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV using Secondary Vertex b-tagging
  • Phys. Rev. D 74, 092005 (2006) Measurement of the top quark mass in the lepton+jets final state with the matrix element method
  • Phys. Rev. D Rapid. Comm. 75, 031102(R) (2007) Measurement of the W Boson Helicity in Top Quark decay at DØ
  • Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 041801 (2007) Experimental discrimination between charge 2e/3 top quark and charge 4e/3 exotic quark production scenarios
  • Phys. Lett. B 626, 55 (2005) Measurement of the ttbar production cross section in pbarp collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV in dilepton final states
  • Phys. Lett. B 626, 45 (2005) Measurement of the ttbar cross section in pbarp collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV using kinematic characteristics of lepton plus jets events
• DØ Notes:
  • DØ Note 5113, Measurement of the ttbar Production Cross Section in ppbar Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96TeV using Secondary Vertex b-Tagging
  • DØ Note 4995, Taggability in Pass2 p14 Data
  • DØ Note 4900, Measurement of the ttbar production cross section at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV using lifetime tagging
  • DØ Note 4888, Measurement of the ttbar Production Cross Section in ppbar Collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV Using b-tagged Lepton+Jets Events
  • DØ Note 4683, Measurement of the ttbar Production Cross-section at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV in Dilepton Final States
  • DØ Note 4662, Measurement of the ttbar Production Cross-Section at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV in the Electron+Jets Final State using a Topological Method
  • DØ Note 4655, Study of EM efficiencies in p14 for top analysis
  • DØ Note 4304, Testing of the Silicon Modules for the DØ Run IIb Silicon Detector