Performance and First Physics Results of the SVT Trigger at CDF II

Abstract

For the first time in a hadron collider, a novel trigger processor, the Silicon Vertex Trigger (SVT), allows to select the long-lived heavy flavor particles by cutting on the track impact parameter with a precision similar to that of the offline reconstruction. Triggering on displaced tracks has enriched the B-physics program by enhancing the B yields of the lepton-based triggers and opened up full hadronic triggering at CDF. After a first commissioning period, the SVT is fully operational, performing very closely to its design capabilities. System performance and first physics results based on SVT selected data samples are presented.

Invited talk at the Workshop on the CKM Unitarity Triangle, IPPP Durham, April 2003 (eConf C0304052). 4 pages LaTeX, 6 eps figures