Search

We discuss the impact of eligible top-quark pair production differential cross-section measurements at the LHC with a collision energy of 13 TeV on the parton distribution functions (PDFs) of the proton as well as the impact of approximate next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (aN$^3$LO) QCD corrections combined with next-to-leading order (NLO) electroweak (EW) corrections on $t\bar t$ observables. We illustrate the effects on the gluon PDF at large $x$ from an optimal baseline selection of data in NNLO global fits, and show comparisons between the theory prediction for $t\bar t$ total and differential cross sections at aN$^3$LO QCD combined with NLO EW and recent measurements from the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the LHC., Comment: 13 Pages, 3 figures. Contribution to the conference proceedings of LHCP2024, the 12th Edition of the Large Hadron Collider Physics Conference, 3-7 June 2024 Boston, USA. This contribution is based on 2307.11153[hep-ph] and 2306.06166[hep-ph]

We present theoretical results at approximate NNLO in QCD for top-quark pair-production total cross sections and top-quark differential distributions at the LHC in the SMEFT. In this work we consider effects of new physics parametrized by the chromomagnetic dipole operator. These approximate results are obtained by adding higher-order soft gluon corrections to the complete NLO calculations. The higher-order corrections are large, and they reduce the scale uncertainties. These improved theoretical predictions can be used to set stronger bounds on top-quark QCD anomalous couplings., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; in proceedings of the 42nd International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP2024), 18-24 July 2024, Prague, Czech Republic

We calculate the complete soft-gluon corrections for the production of colorless final states through N$^3$LO in single-particle-inclusive kinematics. We present explicit analytical results and use them to study higher-order QCD corrections for the production of a heavy charged Higgs pair ($H^+ H^-$) via quark-antiquark annihilation in the Two-Higgs-Doublet Model at LHC energies. We calculate the NNLO soft-gluon and virtual QCD corrections as well as the N$^3$LO soft-gluon corrections to the total cross section and the charged-Higgs rapidity distribution. This is the first calculation of complete N$^3$LO soft-gluon corrections for a process in single-particle-inclusive kinematics, and the results can be applied to other processes with colorless final states., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables; v2 has some additional material and it is the published version

We study higher-order QCD corrections for the production of a top-antitop quark pair ($t{\bar t}$ production) at the Large Hadron Collider in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory. We consider effects of new physics parametrized by the top-quark chromomagnetic dipole operator. We calculate new physics contributions to the total cross section at approximate NNLO, with second-order soft-gluon corrections added to the complete NLO result, including uncertainties from scale dependence and from parton distributions. We also calculate new physics contributions at approximate NNLO for differential distributions in top-quark transverse momentum., Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, 8 tables. Published version in EPJC

We present theoretical predictions for top-quark total cross sections and for differential distributions in top-quark transverse momentum and rapidity. Third-order soft gluon corrections are added to the complete NNLO quantities to provide approximate N$^3$LO (aN$^3$LO) results, and electroweak corrections at NLO are also included. We calculate the theoretical uncertainties from scale dependence and from parton distribution functions in the proton, and estimate their impact on the total and differential cross sections. The higher-order corrections are large and they reduce the scale uncertainties. The results presented in this work include the best current theoretical input and are in good agreement with recent data from the LHC., Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures, 16 tables; v2 contains some additional material and it is the published version

We present theoretical calculations of total cross sections and top-quark transverse-momentum and rapidity distributions in the associated production of a top-antitop pair with a photon ($t{\bar t}\gamma$ production). We include complete QCD and electroweak corrections at NLO as well as soft-gluon corrections at approximate NNLO (aNNLO). The aNNLO corrections are very significant, they decrease theoretical uncertainties, and they are needed for better comparison with data from the LHC., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; presented at DIS2023, XXX International Workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects, 27-31 March 2023

We study higher-order QCD corrections for the associated production of a top-antitop quark pair and a photon ($t{\bar t}\gamma$ production) in proton-proton collisions. We calculate the approximate NNLO cross section, with second-order soft-gluon corrections added to the complete NLO result, including uncertainties from scale dependence and from parton distributions. We compare our results to recent measurements from the LHC, and find that the soft-gluon corrections provide improved agreement with the data. We also calculate differential distributions in top-quark transverse momentum and rapidity., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

The calculation of P-wave Sommerfeld enhancement in processes with unstable particles in the final state is known to be divergent. In a complete description, where resonant (on-shell unstable particles) and non-resonant contributions are included, it has been shown that results are finite. For most beyond the Standard Model applications, these complete calculations are not readily available. In this work, we are interested in the near-threshold region and we consider only the resonant contribution. In this case, we provide a simplified prescription to compute the P-wave Sommerfeld enhancement in the narrow-width approximation of the unstable particle that directly eliminates divergences. We show that we can define a finite resonant contribution without the inclusion of the non-resonant processes in a way similar to the usual S-wave Sommerfeld enhancement., Comment: references added. Title change, discussions improved, conclusions unchanged. Version accepted at Euro Phys C

We study the collider phenomenology of a simplified model containing a right-handed $W$ in which the $W_R$ couples predominantly to the third generation in the quark sector. The model also includes a light Majorana neutrino, with $M_1\sim {\cal O}(100)$ GeV, giving rise to lepton-number-violating signatures that are visible at the LHC. Taking into account all the searches from the LHC and Tevatron, we find that this $W_R$ can still be as light as $M_R \sim 300$ GeV. We show that this type of new physics, and others like it, can be detected at the LHC using final states with three same-sign same-flavour leptons., Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables

We minimally extend the Standard Model field content by adding new vector-like fermions at the TeV scale to allow gauge coupling unification at a realistic scale. We embed the model into a $SU(5)$ grand unified theory that is asymptotically safe and features an interacting fixed point for the gauge coupling. There are no Landau poles of the $U(1)$ gauge and Higgs couplings. Gauge, Yukawa and Higgs couplings are retraced from the fixed point and matched at the grand unification scale to those of the Standard Model rescaled up to the same energy. All couplings, their fixed point values and critical exponents always remain in the perturbative regime., Comment: 25 pages, 3 figures, 6 tables

The lightness of the Standard Model (SM) neutrinos could be understood if their masses were to be generated by new physics at a high scale, through the so-called seesaw mechanism involving heavy fermion singlets. If new physics violates baryon minus lepton number by only a small amount, the heavy fermion singlets as well as the SM neutrinos split into pairs of quasi-Dirac states. At the scale of the fermion singlets, this quasi-Diracness allows to enhance CP violation in their decays and the cosmic matter-antimatter asymmetry can be successfully generated through resonant leptogenesis. At lower scale, this quasi-Diracness results in small SM neutrino mass splitting which can be probed in oscillation experiments. Remarkably, the parameter space for viable leptogenesis spans over the regime relevant for solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillations., Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, PLB version

We study effects of beyond the Standard Model physics coupling third generation quarks to leptons of the first two generations. We parametrize these effects by dimension-six effective operators, and we also consider related simplified UV completions: scalar leptoquark and $W'$ models. We derive new constraints on these scenarios by using recent ATLAS measurements of differential cross sections of single top production in association with a $W$ boson, and also show how these limits will evolve with future data. We also describe how the limits can be significantly improved by using ratios of differential distributions with different flavors of leptons., Comment: 31 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. New references added

In theories of Partial Compositeness the top quark is a mixture of a composite and an elementary state, and as a consequence its interactions with gauge bosons are expected to deviate from those of a point-like object. At sufficiently large energies, such deviations cannot be parametrized by the leading effective field theory operators and form factors (i.e. energy dependent interactions) must be introduced. In this work, we argue that such effects might appear at relatively low energies with interesting phenomenological consequences. In analogy to the proton electromagnetic interactions, we devise a simplified phenomenological model that parametrizes the top-quark interactions with gluons in terms of two form factors. We study the implications of these interactions in top-quark and heavy top-partner pair production at a hadron collider., Comment: 30 pages, 7 figures

We consider a mirror world scenario, in which light Dirac neutrinos are generated from a seesaw mechanism and leptogenesis occurs at high scale without violating lepton number. After leptogenesis, the conservation laws of the theory imply the visible baryon-minus-lepton asymmetry to be equal to the mirror baryon-minus-lepton asymmetry. We extend previous work by presenting a detailed study of this Dirac leptogenesis mechanism by constructing the full set of Boltzmann Equations for both cases of unflavored and flavored regimes. We show that $Z_2$ breaking and lepton/mirror lepton flavor effects can be exploited to enhance the final baryon-minus-lepton asymmetry in our world by several orders of magnitude., Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures; abstract and introduction modified, reference to an earlier work on the subject added, section and detailed discussion about flavor enhancement effects added; JCAP version

We study the effects of new physics in double Higgs production at future $e^+ e^-$ colliders. In the Standard Model the chiral limit ($m_e=0$) plays an important role for this process, being responsible for the smallness of the tree-level diagrams with respect to the 1-loop contributions. In our work, we consider the possibility of an enhancement due to the contribution of Standard Model dimension-six effective operators. We show that there are only two relevant operators for this process that are not yet (strongly) constrained by other data. We perform a sensitivity study on the operator coefficients for several benchmark values of energy and integrated luminosity related to the proposed linear colliders such as CLIC, ILC and FCC-ee and we derive expected 95% CL limits for each benchmark scenario., Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. New references added

Based on a previous work on scenarios where the Standard Model and dark matter particles share a common asymmetry through effective operators at early time in the Universe and later on decouple from each other (not care), in this work, we study in detail the collider phenomenology of these scenarios. In particular, we use the experimental results from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to constrain the viable parameter space. Besides effective operators, we also constrain the parameter space of some representative ultraviolet complete models with experimental results from both the LHC and the Large Electron-Positron Collider. Specifically, we use measurements related to jets + missing transverse energy (MET), di-jets and photon + MET. In the case of ultraviolet models, depending on the assumptions on the couplings and masses of mediators, the derived constraints can become more or less stringent. We consider also the situation where one of the mediators has mass below 100 GeV, in this case we use the ultraviolet model to construct a new effective operator responsible for the sharing of the asymmetry and study its phenomenology., Comment: 21 pages, 12 figues

This note proposes common standards and prescriptions for the effective-field-theory interpretation of top-quark measurements at the LHC., Comment: LHC TOP WG note, 10 pages of main text, 5 appendices, 1 figure, 21 tables

We identify the differential cross sections for $t\bar t$ production and the total cross section for Higgs production through gluon fusion as the processes in which the two effective operators describing the leading non-standard interactions of the top quark with the gluon can be disentangled and studied in an independent fashion. Current data on the Higgs production and the $ {\rm d}\sigma/{\rm d} {p^t_T}$ differential cross section provide limits comparable, but not more stringent, than those from the total $t\bar t$ cross sections measurements at the LHC and Tevatron, where however the two operators enter on the same footing and can only be constrained together. Given the present uncertainties, we find that the most stringent bounds are provided by a combination of data on the $t \bar t$ total cross sections together with those from the Higgs production. We conclude by stating the (modest) reduction in the uncertainties necessary to provide more stringent limits by means of the Higgs production and $t\bar t$ differential cross section observables at the LHC with the future luminosity of 300 and 3000 fb$^{-1}$., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables. Discussion with the relation of the considered operators with the ones of the Warsaw basis extended. Missing contribution to the gluon fusion amplitude added. Main results unchanged

When the Standard Model is interpreted as the renormalizable sector of a low-energy effective theory, the effects of new physics are encoded into a set of higher dimensional operators. These operators potentially deform the shapes of Standard Model differential distributions of final states observable at colliders. We describe a simple and systematic method to obtain optimal estimations of these deformations when using numerical tools, like Monte Carlo simulations. A crucial aspect of this method is minimization of the estimation uncertainty: we demonstrate how the operator coefficients have to be set in the simulations in order to get optimal results. The uncertainty on the interference term turns out to be the most difficult to control and grows very quickly when the interference is suppressed. We exemplify our method by computing the deformations induced by the ${\cal O}_{3W}$ operator in $W^+W^-$ production at the LHC, and by deriving a bound on ${\cal O}_{3W}$ using $8$ TeV CMS data., Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures. v2: Minor corrections, references added, matches journal version

We re-investigate electroweak signal-background interference in associated Higgs production via gluon fusion in the presence of new physics in the top-Higgs sector. Considering the full final state $pp \to b \bar b \ell^+\ell^-$ ($\ell=e,\mu$), we discuss how new physics in the top-Higgs sector that enhances the $ZZ$ component can leave footprints in the $HZ$ limit setting. In passing we investigate the phenomenology of a class of new physics interactions that can be genuinely studied in this process., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, references added, published version

We study W boson scattering in the same- and opposite-sign channels under the assumption that no resonances are present in the collider processes $pp\rightarrow l^{\pm}\nu_{l}l^{\pm}\nu_{l}jj$ and $pp\rightarrow l^{\pm}\nu_{l}l^{\mp}\nu_{l}jj$, respectively. Basic selection cuts together with a restriction on the combination of the final lepton and jet momenta (the Warsaw cut) makes it possible to argue that at the LHC a luminosity of 100 fb$^{-1}$ and a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}= 13$ TeV will allow to constrain the leading effective lagrangian coefficients at the permil level. We also discuss limits on the other coefficients of the effective lagrangian as well as stronger constraints provided by higher energy and luminosity. We show that the same-sign $WW \rightarrow WW$ channel suffices in providing the most stringent constraints., Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures, 9 tables

The "exact" or "functional" renormalization group equation describes the renormalization group flow of the effective average action $\Gamma_k$. The ordinary effective action $\Gamma_0$ can be obtained by integrating the flow equation from an ultraviolet scale $k=\Lambda$ down to $k=0$. We give several examples of such calculations at one-loop, both in renormalizable and in effective field theories. We use the results of Barvinsky, Vilkovisky and Avramidi on the non-local heat kernel coefficients to reproduce the four point scattering amplitude in the case of a real scalar field theory with quartic potential and in the case of the pion chiral lagrangian. In the case of gauge theories, we reproduce the vacuum polarization of QED and of Yang-Mills theory. We also compute the two point functions for scalars and gravitons in the effective field theory of scalar fields minimally coupled to gravity., Comment: 40 pages

We present a simple and consistent way to compute correlation functions in interacting theories with non-trivial phase diagram. As an example we show how to consistently compute the four-point function in three dimensional $\mathbb{Z}_2$-scalar theories. The idea is to perform the path integral by weighting the momentum modes that contribute to it according to their renormalization group (RG) relevance, i.e. we weight each mode according to the value of the running couplings at that scale. In this way, we are able encode in a loop computation the information regarding the RG trajectory along which we are integrating. We show that depending on the initial condition, or initial point in the phase diagram, we obtain different behaviors of the four-point function at the end point of the flow., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures; v2: references added

We review and update current limits on possible anomalous couplings of the top quark to gauge bosons. We consider data from top quark decay (as encoded in the $W$-boson helicity fractions) and single-top production (in the $t$-, $s$- and $Wt$-channels). We find improved limits with respect to previous results (in most cases of almost one order of magnitude) and extend the analysis to include four-quark operators. We find that new electroweak physics is constrained to live above an energy scale between 430 GeV and 3.2 TeV (depending on the form of its contribution); strongly interacting new physics is bounded by scales higher than 1.3 or 1.5 TeV (again depending on its contribution)., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

We consider direct bounds on the coefficients of higher dimensional top quark dipole operators from their contributions to anomalous top couplings that affect some related processes at the LHC. Several observables are studied. In particular, we incorporate for the first time in this type of analysis the recently measured associated $t \bar{t} V$ production, which is currently the only measured direct observable sensitive to the dipole operator involving the hypercharge field. We perform a Bayesian analysis to derive the $1(2)\sigma$ confidence level (CL) intervals on these coefficients., Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, 1 table; references added. Version accepted for publication in PRD

If the top quark is a composite state made out of some constituents, its interaction with the gluon will be modified. We introduce the leading effective operators that contribute to the radius and anomalous magnetic moment of the top quark and study their effect on the cross section for top anti-top production at the Tevatron and the LHC. Current measurements of the cross sections set a stringent limit on the scale of compositeness. This limit is comparable to similar limits obtained for light quarks and those from electroweak precision measurements. It can be used to constrain the parameter space of some composite Higgs models., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, 1 table. Analysis extended to quadratic contributions of the effective couplings. Study of top spin polarizations added. New confidence intervals obtained. Figures of the bounds replaced. Bounds on C2 result weaker. Version accepted for publication in PRD

Quark contact interactions are an important signal of new physics. We introduce a model in which the presence of a symmetry protects these new interactions from giving large corrections in flavor changing processes at low energies. This minimal model provides the basic set of operators which must be considered to contribute to the high-energy processes. To discuss their experimental signature in jet pairs produced in proton-proton colllisions, we simplify the number of possible operators down to two. We show (for a representative integrated luminosity of 200 pb^-1 at \surd s = 7 TeV) how the presence of two operators significantly modifies the bound on the characteristic energy scale of the contact interactions which is obtained by keeping a single operator., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures

We consider a model in which Goldstone bosons, described by a SU(N) chiral nonlinear sigma model, are coupled to an N-plet of colored fermions by means of a Yukawa interaction. We study the one-loop renormalization group flow and show that the non-Gaussian UV fixed point, which is present in the purely bosonic model, is lost because of fermion loop effects unless N is sufficiently large. We then add four-fermion contact interactions to the lagrangian and show that in this case there exist several non-Gaussian fixed points. The strength of the contact interactions, predicted by the requirement that the theory flows towards a fixed point in the UV, is compared to the current experimental bounds. This toy model could provide an important building block of an asymptotically safe model of the weak interactions., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

We assume that the Higgs boson or a possible resonance---playing its role in strongly interacting models of electroweak symmetry breaking---has been discovered at the LHC and propose a search strategy to determine its spin based on two simple asymmetries in the ZZ, W+W- and t t-bar decays channels. We consider some benchmark values for its mass (in the interval from 182 GeV/c^2 to 1 TeV/c^2) and discuss the relative advantages of the different decay processes. A full analysis, including the background, is given. For a center-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, we find that the lowest integrated luminosity required to discriminate between the different spins is, depending on the process and the resonance mass, between 40 fb^{-1} and 250 fb^{-1}., Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures

We consider the standard model without the Higgs boson, where the Goldstone modes are described by a nonlinear sigma model. We study the renormalization group flow of the sigma model coupling f and of the electroweak parameters S and T. The condition that the couplings reach a fixed point at high energy leaves the low energy values of f and T arbitrary (to be determined experimentally) and fixes S to a value compatible with electroweak precision data., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

We study the beta functions of the leading, two-derivative terms of the left-gauged SU(N) nonlinear sigma-model in d dimensions. In d>2, we find the usual Gaussian ultraviolet fixed point for the gauge coupling and an attractive non-Gaussian fixed point for the Goldstone boson coupling. The position of the latter fixed point controls the chiral expansion, unitarity and the strength of the tree-level Goldstone boson scattering amplitudes. Attention is paid to the gauge- and scheme-dependence of the results., Comment: REVTeX4, 11 pages, no figures, v2. Revised version accepted for publication in PRD where comments on large N have been removed

These proceedings collect the presentations given at the first three meetings of the INFN "Workshop on Monte Carlo's, Physics and Simulations at the LHC", held at the Frascati National Laboratories in 2006. The first part of these proceedings contains pedagogical introductions to several basic topics of both theoretical and experimental high pT LHC physics. The second part collects more specialised presentations., Comment: 239 pages, 222 figures