Kinematic evidence for top quark pair production in $W$ + multi - jet events in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.8$ TeV

We present a study of $W+$multijet events that compares the kinematics of the observed events with expectations from direct QCD $W+$jet production and from production and decay of top quark pairs. The data were collected in the 1992-93 run with the Collider Detector at Fermilab from 19.3 pb$^{-1}$ of proton-anti proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.8$ TeV. From the $W+\geq 3$ jet events, a "signal sample" with an improved ratio of $t \bar{t}$ to QCD produced $W$ events is selected by requiring each jet to be emitted centrally in the event center of mass frame. This sample contains 14 events with unusually hard jet E$_T$ distributions not well described by expectations for jets from direct QCD $W$ production and other background processes. Using expected jet E$_T$ distributions, a relative likelihood is defined and used to determine if an event is more consistent with the decay of $t \bar{t}$ pairs, with M$_{top}$~=~ 170 GeV/c$^2$, than with direct QCD $W$ production, while only 1.7 such top--like events are expected in the absence of $t \bar{t}$. Good agreement in the jet spectra is obtained if jet production from $t \bar{t}$ pair decays is included. For those events kinematically more consistent with $t \bar{t}$ we find evidence for a $b$-quark content in their jets to the extent expected from top decay, and larger than expected for background processes. For events with four or more jets, the discrepancy with the predicted jet energy distributions from direct QCD $W$ production, and the associated excess of $b$-quark content is more pronounced.