Search for single top quark production in<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mover accent="true"><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>¯</mml:mo></mml:mover></mml:math>collisions at<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:msqrt><mml:mi>s</mml:mi></mml:msqrt><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>1.96</mml:mn><mml:mtext> </mml:mtext><mml:mtext> </mml:mtext><mml:mi>TeV</mml:mi></mml:math>in the missing transverse energy plus jets topology

We report a search for single top quark production with the CDF II detector using $2.1\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{fb}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ of integrated luminosity of $p\overline{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{TeV}$. The data selected consist of events characterized by large energy imbalance in the transverse plane and hadronic jets, and no identified electrons and muons, so the sample is enriched in $W\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\nu}$ decays. In order to suppress backgrounds, additional kinematic and topological requirements are imposed through a neural network, and at least one of the jets must be identified as a $b$ quark jet. We measure an excess of signal-like events in agreement with the standard model prediction, but inconsistent with a model without single top quark production by 2.1 standard deviations ($\ensuremath{\sigma}$), with a median expected sensitivity of $1.4\ensuremath{\sigma}$. Assuming a top quark mass of $175\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}/{c}^{2}$ and ascribing the excess to single top quark production, the cross section is measured to be ${4.9}_{\ensuremath{-}2.2}^{+2.5}(\mathrm{stat}+\mathrm{syst})\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{pb}$, consistent with measurements performed in independent data sets and with the standard model prediction.

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