Quark Production Cross Section Research Articles

Heavy flavor production under a strong magnetic field

The magnetic field created in high energy nuclear collisions will affect the QCD dynamical processes, such as the heavy quark production which happens in the initial stage of the collisions. We calculate in a strong magnetic field the heavy quark production cross section of the process gg→QQ¯\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ gg\ o Q\\overline{Q} $$\\end{document} at leading order and the corresponding transverse momentum distribution in nucleus-nucleus collisions. In comparison to the QED process, the heavy quark production is dominated by the unique QCD channel with gluon self-interaction. Due to the dimension reduction of quark phase space in a strong magnetic field, the production is concentrated in a very narrow energy region above the threshold. Since the rotational invariance is broken in a magnetic field, the production becomes anisotropic.

Analytic NNLO QCD corrections to top quark pair production in electron-positron collisions

We present the analytic total cross section of top quark pair production in electron-positron annihilation at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). By utilizing the optical theorem, the NNLO corrections are related to the imaginary parts of three-loop self-energy Feynman diagrams, of which the master integrals are calculated with canonical differential equations. The analytic results for the NNLO corrections are expressed in terms of multiple polylogarithms as well as elliptic functions. We discuss the asymptotic expansions near the threshold and in the high energy limit in detail. Numerical results are provided for the total cross section of top quark pair production at future lepton colliders.

Inferring the initial condition for the Balitsky-Kovchegov equation

We apply Bayesian inference to determine the posterior likelihood distribution for the parameters describing the initial condition of the small-x Balitsky-Kovchegov evolution equation at leading logarithmic accuracy. The HERA structure function data is found to constrain most of the model parameters well. In particular, we find that the HERA data prefers an anomalous dimension γ≈1 unlike in previous fits where γ>1 which led to, e.g., the unintegrated gluon distribution and the quark-target cross sections not being positive definite. The determined posterior distribution can be used to propagate the uncertainties in the nonperturbative initial condition when calculating any other observable in the color glass condensate framework. We demonstrate this explicitly for the inclusive quark production cross section in proton-proton collisions and by calculating predictions for the nuclear modification factor for the F2 structure function in the EIC and LHeC/FCC-he kinematics. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Proton Structure Functions at Next-to-Leading Order in the Dipole Picture with Massive Quarks.

We predict heavy quark production cross sections in deep inelastic scattering at high energy by applying the color glass condensate effective theory. We demonstrate that, when the calculation is performed consistently at next-to-leading order accuracy with massive quarks, it becomes possible, for the first time in the dipole picture with perturbatively calculated center-of-mass energy evolution, to simultaneously describe both the light and heavy quark production data at small x_{Bj}. Furthermore, we show how the heavy quark cross section data provides additional strong constraints on the extracted nonperturbative initial condition for the small-x_{Bj} evolution equations.

Four-top quark physics at the LHC

The production of four top quarks presents a rare process in the Standard Model that provides unique opportunities and sensitivity to Standard Model observables including potential enhancement of many popular new physics extensions. This article summarises the latest experimental measurements of the four-top quark production cross section at the LHC. An overview is provided detailing interpretations of the experimental results regarding the top quark Yukawa coupling in addition to the limits on physics beyond the Standard Model. Further, prospects for future measurements and opportunities offered by this challenging final state are given herein.

Non-resonant diagrams for single production of top and bottom partners

The search for top and bottom partners is a major focus of analyses at both the ATLAS and CMS experiments. When singly produced, these vector-like partners of the Standard Model third generation quarks retain a sizeable cross-section that makes them attractive search candidates in their respective topologies. While most efforts have concentrated on the resonant mode for single production of these hypothetical particles, the most dominant mode at narrow widths, recent studies have revealed a wide and rich phenomenology involving the non-resonant diagrams. In this letter we categorically investigate the impact of the non-resonant diagrams on different top and bottom partner single production topologies and their impact on the inclusive cross-section estimation. We also propose a parameterization for calculating the correction factor to the single vector-like quark production cross-section when such diagrams are included.

Top quark pair and single top cross sections and ttX (CMS)

Latest results on inclusive and differential top quark pair and single top quark production cross sections are presented using proton-proton collision data collected by the CMS experiment. The differential cross sections are measured as a function of various kinematic observables of the top quarks and the jets and leptons of the event final state. The results are confronted with precise theory calculations and used to constrain Standard Model parameters. Measurements are performed also with high p_TpT top quarks, i.e., in boosted regimes.

Theory Input for \(t\bar {t}j\) Experimental Analyses at the LHC

The precise measurement of the top quark mass, which is a fundamental SM parameter, constitutes one of the main goals of the LHC top physics program. One approach to measure this quantity uses the $\rho_\mathrm{s}$ distribution, an observable depending on the invariant mass of the $t\bar{t}j$ system. To fully exploit the experimental accuracy achievable in measuring top quark production cross sections at the LHC, the theory uncertainties associated to these measurements need to be well under control. To this end we present a study of the effect of varying the theoretical input parameters in the calculation of differential cross sections of the $t\bar{t}j$ process. Thereby we studied the influence of the jet reconstruction procedure, as well as the effect of various renormalization and factorization scale definitions and different PDF sets. The variation of the $R$ parameter in the jet reconstruction algorithm was found to have negligible influence on the scale variation uncertainty. A strong reduction of scale uncertainties and a better behaviour of the NLO/LO ratios using selected dynamical scales instead of a static one in the high energy tails of differential distributions was observed. This is particularly interesting in the context of the top quark mass measurements through the $\rho_\mathrm{s}$ distribution, in which the perturbative stability can be improved by applying the proposed dynamical scale definition.

Recent top quark measurements with the CMS experiment

Latest results on top quark pair and single top quark production cross sections (inclusive and differential) are presented using proton-proton collision data collected by CMS. The results are used to constrain the standard model parameters. For the first time, the third row of the CKM matrix is measured from single top quark events and multidifferential cross sections are used to constrain simultaneously the top quark pole mass, α S , and PDFs. Moreover, recent results on top quark properties, such as mass measurements or constraints on top Yukawa from differential cross sections are also presented.

First measurement of the cross section for top quark pair production with additional charm jets using dileptonic final states in pp collisions at [formula omitted

The first measurement of the inclusive cross section for top quark pairs (tt‾) produced in association with two additional charm jets is presented. The analysis uses the dileptonic final states of tt‾ events produced in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 41.5fb−1, recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. A new charm jet identification algorithm provides input to a neural network that is trained to distinguish among tt‾ events with two additional charm (tt‾cc‾), bottom (tt‾bb‾), and light-flavour or gluon (tt‾LL) jets. By means of a template fitting procedure, the inclusive tt‾cc‾, tt‾bb‾, and tt‾LL cross sections are simultaneously measured, together with their ratios to the inclusive tt‾ + two jets cross section. This provides measurements of the tt‾cc‾ and tt‾bb‾ cross sections of 10.1±1.2(stat)±1.4(syst)pb and 4.54±0.35(stat)±0.56(syst)pb, respectively, in the full phase space. The results are compared and found to be consistent with predictions from two different matrix element generators with next-to-leading order accuracy in quantum chromodynamics, interfaced with a parton shower simulation.

Evidence for Top Quark Production in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions.

Ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions recreate in the laboratory the thermodynamical conditions prevailing in the early universe up to 10^{-6} sec, thereby allowing the study of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) matter with deconfined partons. The top quark, the heaviest elementary particle known, is accessible in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN LHC, and constitutes a novel probe of the QGP. Here, we report the first evidence for the production of top quarks in nucleus-nucleus collisions, using lead-lead collision data at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.02TeV recorded by the CMS experiment. Two methods are used to measure the cross section for top quark pair production (σ_{tt[over ¯]}) via the selection of charged leptons (electrons or muons) and bottom quarks. One method relies on the leptonic information alone, and the second one exploits, in addition, the presence of bottom quarks. The measured cross sections, σ_{tt[over ¯]}=2.54_{-0.74}^{+0.84} and 2.03_{-0.64}^{+0.71} μb, respectively, are compatible with expectations from scaled proton-proton data and QCD predictions.

Measurement of the [formula omitted] production cross-section in the lepton+jets channel at [formula omitted] TeV with the ATLAS experiment

The top anti-top quark production cross-section is measured in the lepton+jets channel using proton–proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of s=13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. Events with exactly one charged lepton and four or more jets in the final state, with at least one jet containing b-hadrons, are used to determine the tt¯ production cross-section through a profile-likelihood fit. The inclusive cross-section is measured to be σinc=830±0.4(stat.)±36(syst.)±14(lumi.)pb with a relative uncertainty of 4.6%. The result is consistent with theoretical calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD. The fiducial tt¯ cross-section within the experimental acceptance is also measured.

Measurement of top quark pair production in association with a Z boson in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{mathrm{s}} = 13 TeV

A measurement of the inclusive cross section of top quark pair production in association with a Z boson using proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV at the LHC is performed. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 77.5 fb−1, collected by the CMS experiment during 2016 and 2017. The measurement is performed using final states containing three or four charged leptons (electrons or muons), and the Z boson is detected through its decay to an oppositely charged lepton pair. The production cross section is measured to be σ( mathrm{t}overline{mathrm{t}}mathrm{Z} ) = 0.95 ± 0.05 (stat) ± 0.06 (syst) pb. For the first time, differential cross sections are measured as functions of the transverse momentum of the Z boson and the angular distribution of the negatively charged lepton from the Z boson decay. The most stringent direct limits to date on the anomalous couplings of the top quark to the Z boson are presented, including constraints on the Wilson coefficients in the framework of the standard model effective field theory.

Measurement of the top quark pair production cross section in dilepton final states containing one \u03c4 lepton in pp collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

The cross section of top quark pair production is measured in the mathrm{t}overline{mathrm{t}}to left(ell {nu}_{ell}right)left({uptau}_{mathrm{h}}{nu}_{uptau}right)mathrm{b}overline{mathrm{b}} final state, where τh refers to the hadronic decays of the τ lepton, and ℓ is either an electron or a muon. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1 collected in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV with the CMS detector. The measured cross section is {sigma}_{mathrm{t}overline{mathrm{t}}} = 781 ± 7 (stat) ± 62 (syst) ± 20 (lumi) pb, and the ratio of the partial width Γ(t → τντb) to the total decay width of the top quark is measured to be 0.1050 ± 0.0009 (stat) ± 0.0071 (syst). This is the first measurement of the mathrm{t}overline{mathrm{t}} production cross section in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV that explicitly includes τ leptons. The ratio of the cross sections in the ℓτh and ℓℓ final states yields a value {R}_{ell {uptau}_{mathrm{h}}/mathcal{ll}} = 0.973 ± 0.009 (stat) ± 0.066 (syst), consistent with lepton universality.

Measurement of the single top quark and antiquark production cross sections in the t channel and their ratio in proton-proton collisions at [formula omitted

Measurements of the cross sections for the production of single top quarks and antiquarks in the t channel, and their ratio, are presented for proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The data set used was recorded in 2016 by the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1. Events with one muon or electron are selected, and different categories of jet and b jet multiplicity and multivariate discriminators are applied to separate the signal from the background. The cross sections for the t-channel production of single top quarks and antiquarks are measured to be 130±1(stat)±19(syst)pb and 77±1(stat)±12(syst)pb, respectively, and their ratio is 1.68±0.02(stat)±0.05(syst). The results are in agreement with the predictions from the standard model.

The s-Channel Single Top Quark Production as a Constraint for W ' Boson Contribution

An analysis is performed to constrain the W' boson production using the measurement of the s‑channel single top quark production cross section. Both phenomenological and statistical approaches are examined and results are presented. In the best case, W' bosons that interact only to the right-handed fermions are excluded below 1390 GeV. To our knowledge, it is the first time that the measured cross section of the s-channel single top quark production from the colliders is used to rule out a part of the phase space of the W' boson.

Model-independent constraints on the CKM matrix elements |Vtb|, |Vts| and |Vtd|

Single top quark production cross sections at hadron colliders are traditionally used to extract the modulus of the Vtb element of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix under the following assumption: |Vtb| ≫ |Vtd|, |Vts|. For the first time, direct limits on |Vtd| and |Vts| are obtained using experimental data without the assumption of the unitarity of the CKM matrix. Limits on the |Vtd|, |Vts| and |Vtb| are extracted from differential measurements of single top quark cross sections in t-channel as a function of the rapidity and transverse momentum of the top quark and the light jet recoiling against the top quark. We have shown that the pseudorapidity of the forward jet in the single top production is one of the most powerful observables for discriminating between the |Vtd| and |Vtb| events. We perform a global fit of top quark related CKM elements to experimental data from the LHC Runs I and II and Tevatron. Experimental data include inclusive and differential single top cross sections in t-channel, inclusive tW production cross section, and top quark branching ratio to b quark and W boson. We present bounds on |Vtb|, |Vts| and |Vtd| using current data and project the results for future LHC data sets corresponding to luminosities of 300 and 3000 fb−1.

Differences in fully differential cross section of single top quark production and its subsequent decay process depending on various anomalous Wtb couplings.

The fully differential cross sections of t-channel production of a single top quark with its subsequent decay are compared for the case of contributions involving anomalous Wtb couplings. It is shown that the most noticeable differences, for cases corresponding to different anomalous couplings, appear in the shape of two-dimensional distributions, where one of the variables is the energy of a charged lepton and the other is one of the t-quark spin orientation angles.

Combining direct and indirect constraints on anomalous Wtb couplings

We look at anomalous interactions of the Wtb vertex. In case of the scenarios, when two of the four anomalous couplings can have non-SM values, we obtain constraints from three processes involving B-decays: Bd,s − B−d,s oscillations, the decay B → Xsγ and the decay B → Xsℓ+ℓ−. We only consider scenarios when two of the four anomalous couplings are allowed to have values different from thosein the Standard Model. We then compare our results with constraints from the t-channel single top quarkproduction cross section from [1], which were obtained for the same scenarios.

NNLO soft function for top quark pair production at small transverse momentum

The cross section for top quark pair production factorizes at small transverse momentum of the heavy quark pair, qT. One of the key ingredients that appears in the factorization formula is the soft function, which mediates soft gluon exchanges between particles and gives rise to colour correlations. We present the complete result for the small-qT soft function at the next-to-next-to-leading order. This is the last missing element needed to calculate the NNLO cross section for top quark pair production by means of the qT slicing method. In order to evaluate divergent integrals appearing in the calculation, we develop methods based on sector decomposition and differential equations. We present an extensive validation of our framework. In particular, we recover results predicted by the renormalization group, which constitutes a direct demonstration of validity of the small-qT factorization at NNLO. We provide complete results for the real and imaginary part of the soft function, which are ready for application in the calculation of the $$ t\overline{t} $$ cross section at NNLO.