Rapidity gaps between jets in proton-antiproton collisions at √s = 1.8 TeV.

Abstract

Experimental results are presented from a search for events with a rapidity gap between high transverse momentum jets produced by the Fermilab Tevatron proton anti-proton Collider at √s = 1.8 TeV. The DO detector is used to obtain a sample of events with no observed particles between the two highest transverse energy jets above 30 GeV using an experimental rapidity gap definition. This sample is used to measure the fraction of events with an observed rapidity gap between the jets as a function of the pseudorapidity separation between the jet cone edges (Δη(c)). The observed rapidity gap fraction is in qualitative agreement with theoretical expectations for color-singlet exchange, but uncertainties in the color-octet contribution and the background from particle detection inefficiencies make this association difficult. The measured gap fraction is used to place an upper limit at the 95% confidence level of 1.1 x 10⁻² on the fraction of events with no particles between the jets for events with Δη(c) > 3. This limit puts a significant constraint on the cross section for rapidity gap production between jets (color-singlet exchange) and the probability of a rapidity gap surviving spectator interactions.