The two experiments operate simultaneously using particle beams from Fermilab's Tevatron, world's highest energy particle accelerator. The collaborations, each with about 450 members, presented their results at seminars held at Fermilab on March 2. Now, the analysis of about three times as much data confirms our previous evidence and establishes the discovery of the top quark. The DZero collaboration has discovered the top quark in an independent investigation. Last year, we just did not have enough events to make a statement about the top quark's existence, but now, with a larger data sample, the signal is clear.
Physicists identify top quarks by the characteristic electronic signals they produce.
However, other phenomena can sometimes mimic top quark signals. To claim a discovery, experimenters must observe enough top quark events to rule out any other source of the signals. Using one of the world's most powerful research tools, scientists at Fermilab have made yet another major contribution to human understanding of the fundamentals of the universe. The Department of Energy, the primary steward of U.S. high-energy physics, provided the majority of funding for the research. Support for DZero came from Russia, France, India, and Brazil.