Top Quark Decay Research Articles

Measurements of inclusive and differential cross-sections of tt¯γ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ t\\overline{t}\\gamma $$\\end{document} production in pp collisions at s\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\sqrt{s} $$\\end{document} = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Inclusive and differential cross-sections are measured at particle level for the associated production of a top quark pair and a photon (tt¯γ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ t\\overline{t}\\gamma $$\\end{document}). The analysis is performed using an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector. The measurements are performed in the single-lepton and dilepton top quark pair decay channels focusing on tt¯γ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ t\\overline{t}\\gamma $$\\end{document} topologies where the photon is radiated from an initial-state parton or one of the top quarks. The absolute and normalised differential cross-sections are measured for several variables characterising the photon, lepton and jet kinematics as well as the angular separation between those objects. The observables are found to be in good agreement with the Monte Carlo predictions. The photon transverse momentum differential distribution is used to set limits on effective field theory parameters related to the electroweak dipole moments of the top quark. The combined limits using the photon and the Z boson transverse momentum measured in tt¯\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ t\\overline{t} $$\\end{document} production in associations with a Z boson are also set.

Topportunities at the LHC: rare top decays with light singlets

The discovery of the top quark, the most massive elementary particle yet known, has given us a distinct window into investigating the physics of the Standard Model and beyond. With a plethora of top quarks to be produced in the high luminosity era of the LHC, the exploration of its rare decays holds great promise in revealing potential new physics phenomena. We consider higher-dimensional operators contributing to flavour-changing-neutral-current top decays in the SMEFT and its extension by a light singlet species of spin 0, 1/2, or 1, and exhibit that the HL-LHC (and other future colliders) may observe many exotic top decays in a variety of channels. Light singlets which primarily talk to the SM through such a top interaction may also lead to distinctive long-lived particle signals. Searching for such long-lived particles in top-quark decays has the additional advantage that the SM decay of the other top quark in the same event provides a natural trigger.

Accommodating the LHC charged Higgs boson excess at 130 GeV in the general Two-Higgs Doublet Model

Abstract Charged Higgs bosons are common predictions in most extensions of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs sector. Therefore, their observation would elucidate the nature of the Higgs sector. Motivated by the ATLAS collaboration's latest analysis performed with $139~\text{fb}^{-1}$ of Run 2 data intended to search for charged Higgs boson, produced in top quark decay and subsequently decaying via $H^\pm \rightarrow cb$, where an excess with a local significance of $3\sigma$ is observed at $m_{H^\pm} = 130~\rm{GeV}$, we discuss here the possibility of explaining such excess in the context of the general 2-Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM type-III), after satisfying all theoretical and up-to-date experimental constraints. We also propose phenomenological scenarios to further explore the mass region around 130 GeV in the four Yukawa types of the 2HDM type-III and suggest alternative decay channel $H^\pm \rightarrow cs$ and/or $H^\pm \rightarrow W^{\pm *}h$ to probe the nature of the observed excess (if it is not a statistical fluctuation). Future searches for $H^\pm$ will be critical in confirming or refuting the first hint of a light charged Higgs boson at the LHC.

Quark flavor violation and axion-like particles from top-quark decays at the LHC

We study axion-like particles (ALPs) with quark-flavor-violating couplings at the LHC. Specifically, we focus on the theoretical scenario with ALP-top-up and ALP-top-charm interactions, in addition to the more common quark-flavor-diagonal couplings. The ALPs can thus originate from decays of top quarks which are pair produced in large numbers at the LHC, and then decay to jets. If these couplings to the quarks are tiny and the ALPs have O10\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O}(10) $$\\end{document} GeV masses, they are long-lived, leading to signatures of displaced vertex plus multiple jets, which have the advantage of suppression of background events at the LHC. We recast a recent ATLAS search for the same signature and reinterpret the results in terms of bounds on the long-lived ALP in our theoretical scenario. We find that the LHC with the full Run 2 dataset can place stringent limits, while at the future high-luminosity LHC with 3 ab−1 integrated luminosity stronger sensitivities are expected.

Quantum entanglement and Bell inequality violation in semi-leptonic top decays

Quantum entanglement is a fundamental property of quantum mechanics. Recently, studies have explored entanglement in the tt¯\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ t\\overline{t} $$\\end{document} system at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) when both the top quark and anti-top quark decay leptonically. Entanglement is detected via correlations between the polarizations of the top and anti-top and these polarizations are measured through the angles of the decay products of the top and anti-top. In this work, we propose searching for evidence of quantum entanglement in the semi-leptonic decay channel where the final state includes one lepton, one neutrino, two b-flavor tagged jets, and two light jets from the W decay. We find that this channel is both easier to reconstruct and has a larger effective quantity of data than the fully leptonic channel. As a result, the semi-leptonic channel is 60% more sensitive to quantum entanglement and a factor of 3 more sensitive to Bell inequality violation, compared to the leptonic channel. In 139 fb−1 (3 ab−1) of data at the LHC (HL-LHC), it should be feasible to measure entanglement at a precision of ≲ 3% (0.7%). Detecting Bell inequality violation, on the other hand, is more challenging. With 300 fb−1 (3 ab−1) of integrated luminosity at the LHC Run-3 (HL-LHC), we expect a sensitivity of 1.3σ (4.1σ). In our study, we utilize a realistic parametric fitting procedure to optimally recover the true angular distributions from detector effects. Compared to unfolding this procedure yields more stable results.

Complete NLO corrections to top-quark pair production with isolated photons

We compute for the first time the so-called complete NLO corrections to top-quark pair production with one and two isolated photons in the di-lepton top-quark decay channel. The Narrow Width Approximation is used for the modeling of unstable top quarks and W bosons. Higher-order QCD and EW effects as well as photon bremsstrahlung are consistently included at all stages: in production and top-quark decays. We present results at the integrated and differential fiducial cross-section level for both processes for the LHC Run II center-of-mass energy of s\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\sqrt{s} $$\\end{document} = 13 TeV. In addition, we investigate the scale choice in photonic observables. Finally, the individual size of each subleading contribution is discussed in detail and the origin of the main subleading corrections is scrutinised. For the latter case, alternative calculations are performed in which the subleading NLO corrections are included only in the production of tt¯γ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ t\\overline{t}\\gamma $$\\end{document} and tt¯γγ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ t\\overline{t}\\gamma \\gamma $$\\end{document}.

Full quantum tomography of top quark decays

Quantum tomography in high-energy physics processes has usually been restricted to the spin degrees of freedom. We address the case of top quark decays t→Wb, in which the orbital angular momentum (L) and the spins of W and b are intertwined into a 54-dimensional LWb density operator. The entanglement between L and the W or b spin is large and could be determined for decays of single top quarks produced at the Large Hadron Collider with Run 2 data. With the foreseen statistical and systematic uncertainties, the significance is well above 5σ from the separability hypothesis for L-W entanglement, and 3.2σ for L-b. These would be the first entanglement measurements between orbital and spin angular momenta in high-energy physics. Likewise, the genuine tripartite entanglement between L and the two spins could be established with more than 5σ. The method presented paves the way for similar measurements in other processes.

Top-quark FCNC decays, LFVs, lepton g − 2, and W mass anomaly with inert charged Higgses

The observed flavor-changing neutral-current (FCNC) processes in the standard model (SM) arise from the loop diagrams involving the weak charged currents mediated by the W-gauge boson. Nevertheless, the top-quark FCNCs and lepton flavor-violating processes resulting from the same mechanism are highly suppressed. We investigate possible new physics effects that can enhance the suppressed FCNC processes, such as a top quark decaying into a light quark with a Higgs or gauge boson in the final state, i.e. t → q(h, V) with V = γ, Z, g, h→ℓℓ′ , and ℓ→ℓ′γ . To achieve the assumption that the induced FCNCs are all from quantum loops, we consider the scotogenic mechanism, where a Z 2 symmetry is introduced and only new particles carry an odd Z 2 parity. With the extension of the SM to include an inert Higgs doublet, an inert charged Higgs singlet, a vector-like singlet quark, and two neutral leptons, it is found that, with relevant constraints taken into account, the t → c(h, Z), h → μ τ, and τ → ℓ γ decays can be enhanced up to the expected sensitivities in experiments. The branching ratios of h → μ + μ −/τ + τ − from only new physics effects can reach up to O(10−3) . Intriguingly, the resulting muon g − 2 can fit the combined data within 2 standard deviations, whereas the electron g − 2 can have either sign with a magnitude of O(10−13−10−12) . In addition, we examine the oblique parameters in the model and find that the resulting W-mass anomaly observed by CDF II can be accommodated.

Measurement of jet substructure in boosted tt¯ events with the ATLAS detector using 140 fb−1 of 13 TeV pp collisions

Measurements of the substructure of top-quark jets are presented, using 140 fb−1 of 13 TeV pp collision data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Top-quark jets reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with a radius parameter R=1.0 are selected in top-quark pair (tt¯) events where one top quark decays semileptonically and the other hadronically, or where both top quarks decay hadronically. The top-quark jets are required to have transverse momentum pT>350 GeV, yielding large samples of data events with jet pT values between 350 and 600 GeV. One- and two-dimensional differential cross sections for eight substructure variables, defined using only the charged components of the jets, are measured in a particle-level phase space by correcting for the smearing and acceptance effects induced by the detector. The differential cross sections are compared with the predictions of several Monte Carlo simulations in which top-quark pair-production quantum chromodynamic matrix-element calculations at next-to-leading-order precision in the strong coupling constant αS are passed to leading-order parton shower and hadronization generators. The Monte Carlo predictions for measures of the broadness, and also the two-body structure, of the top-quark jets are found to be in good agreement with the measurements, while variables sensitive to the three-body structure of the top-quark jets exhibit some tension with the measured distributions. © 2024 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration 2024 CERN

Improved analysis of the decay width of t→Wb up to N3LO QCD corrections

In this paper, we analyze the top-quark decay t→Wb up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N3LO) QCD corrections. For the purpose, we first adopt the principle of maximum conformality (PMC) to deal with the initial perturbative QCD (pQCD) series. Then we adopt the Bayesian analysis approach, which quantifies the unknown higher-order terms’ contributions in terms of a probability distribution, to estimate the possible magnitude of the uncalculated N4LO terms. In our calculation, an effective strong coupling constant αs(Q*) is determined by using all nonconformal {βi} terms associated with the renormalization group equation. This leads to a next-to-leading-log PMC scale Q*(NLL)=10.3048 GeV, which can be regarded as the correct momentum flow of the process. Consequently, we obtain an improved scale-invariant pQCD prediction for the top-quark decay width, e.g., Γttot=1.3120±0.0038 GeV, whose error is the squared average of the uncertainties from the decay width of W-boson ΔΓW=±0.042 GeV, the coupling constant Δαs(mZ)=±0.0009, and the predicted N4LO-terms. The magnitude of the top-quark pole mass greatly affects the total decay width. By further taking the PDG top-quark pole mass error from cross-section measurements into consideration, e.g., Δmt=±0.7 GeV, we obtain Γttot=1.3120−0.0192+0.0194 GeV. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Search for Baryon Number Violation in Top Quark Production and Decay Using Proton-Proton Collisions at s=13 TeV

A search is presented for baryon number violating interactions in top quark production and decay. The analysis uses data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 138 fb−1. Candidate events are selected by requiring two oppositely charged leptons (electrons or muons) and exactly one jet identified as originating from a bottom quark. Multivariate discriminants are used to separate the signal from the background. No significant deviation from the standard model prediction is observed. Upper limits are placed on the strength of baryon number violating couplings. For the first time the production of single top quarks via baryon number violating interactions is studied. This allows the search to set the most stringent constraints to date on the branching fraction of the top quark decay to a lepton, an up-type quark (u or c), and a down-type quark (d, s, or b). The results improve the previous bounds by 3 to 6 orders of magnitude based on the fermion flavor combination of the baryon number violating interactions. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration 2024 CERN

Top-quark rare decays with flavor violation* *This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12075074), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province, China (A2020201002, A2022201022, A2022201017, A2023201040), the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Education Department, China (QN2022173), the Post-graduate's Innovation Fund Project of Hebei University (HBU2024SS042), and the Youth Top-notch Talent Support Program of the Hebei

In the present study, we investigated the decays of the top quark: , , , and . They are extremely rare processes in the standard model (SM). As the extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), the SSM features new superfields such as the right-handed neutrinos and three Higgs singlets. We analyzed the effects of different sensitive parameters on the results and made reasonable theoretical predictions, thereby providing a useful reference for future experimental development. Considering the constraint set by the updated experimental data, the numerical results show that the branching ratios of the four processes, i.e., , can reach the same order of magnitude as their experimental upper limits. Among them, has the most evident effect on these processes and is the main parameter; , , , , , , and are also important parameters for the processes, and have effects on the numerical results.

Top-quark decay at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD

Top-quark decay at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD

Accessing CKM suppressed top decays at the LHC

We propose an extension of the existing experimental strategy for measuring branching fractions of top quark decays, targeting specifically t\to j_q Wt→jqW, where j_qjq is a light quark jet. The improved strategy uses orthogonal bb- and qq-taggers, and adds a new observable, the number of light-quark-tagged jets, to the already commonly used observable, the fraction of bb-tagged jets in an event. Careful inclusion of the additional complementary observable significantly increases the expected statistical power of the analysis, with the possibility of excluding |V_{tb}|=1|Vtb|=1 at 95\%95% C.L. at the HL-LHC, and accessing directly the standard model value of |V_{td}|^2+|V_{ts}|^2|Vtd|2+|Vts|2.

Exploring freeze-out and freeze-in dark matter via effective Froggatt-Nielsen theory

Motivated by the dynamical reasons for the hierarchical structure of the Yukawa sector of the Standard Model (SM), we consider an extension of the SM with a complex scalar field, known as `flavon', based on the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism. In an effective theory approach, the SM fermion masses and mixing patterns are generated in orders of the parameter related to the vacuum expectation value of the flavon field and the cut-off of the effective theory. By introducing right-handed neutrinos, we study the viability of the lightest right-handed neutrino as a dark matter candidate, where the same flavon field acts as a mediator between the dark and the SM sectors. We find that dark matter genesis is achieved both through freeze-out and freeze-in mechanisms encompassing the 𝒪(GeV) – 𝒪(TeV) mass range of the mediator and the dark matter particle. In addition to tree-level spin-dependent cross section, the model gives rise to tree- and loop-level contributions to spin-independent scattering cross section at the direct detection experiments such as XENON and LUX-ZEPLIN which can be probed in their future upgrades. By choosing suitable Froggatt-Nielsen charges for the fermions, we also generate the mass spectrum of the SM neutrinos via the Type-I seesaw mechanism. Flavor-changing neutral current processes, such as radiative lepton decay, meson mixing, and top-quark decay remain the most constraining channels and provide testability for this minimal setup that addresses several major shortcomings of the SM.

Search for a light charged Higgs boson in t → H±b decays, with H± → cb, in the lepton+jets final state in proton-proton collisions at s\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\sqrt{s} $$\\end{document} = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for a charged Higgs boson, H±, produced in top-quark decays, t → H±b, is presented. The search targets H± decays into a bottom and a charm quark, H± → cb. The analysis focuses on a selection enriched in top-quark pair production, where one top quark decays into a leptonically decaying W boson and a bottom quark, and the other top quark decays into a charged Higgs boson and a bottom quark. This topology leads to a lepton-plus-jets final state, characterised by an isolated electron or muon and at least four jets. The search exploits the high multiplicity of jets containing b-hadrons, and deploys a neural network classifier that uses the kinematic differences between the signal and the background. The search uses a dataset of proton-proton collisions collected at a centre-of-mass energy s\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\sqrt{s} $$\\end{document} = 13 TeV between 2015 and 2018 with the ATLAS detector at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, amounting to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. Observed (expected) 95% confidence-level upper limits between 0.15% (0.09%) and 0.42% (0.25%) are derived for the product of branching fractions B\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{B} $$\\end{document}(t → H±b) × B(H± → cb) for charged Higgs boson masses between 60 and 160 GeV, assuming the SM production of the top-quark pairs.

Associated production of a top-quark pair with two isolated photons at the LHC through NLO in QCD

We report on the computation of NLO QCD corrections to top-quark pair production in association with two photons at the LHC. Higher-order effects and photon bremsstrahlung are taken into account in the production and decays of the top-quark pair. Top-quark and W-boson decays are treated in the Narrow Width Approximation conserving spin correlations up to NLO in QCD. This is the first time that the complete set of NLO QCD corrections to the ppto toverline{t}gamma gamma process including top-quark decays is calculated. We present results at the integrated and differential cross-section level in the di-lepton and lepton + jet channel. In addition, we investigate the effect of photon bremsstrahlung in toverline{t} production and top-quark decays, as well as the mixed contribution. The latter contribution, in which two photons occur simultaneously in the production and decay of the toverline{t} pair, proved to be significant at both the integrated and differential cross-section level.

Search for a new scalar resonance in flavour-changing neutral-current top-quark decays t → qX (q = u, c), with X → boverline{b} , in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for flavour-changing neutral-current decays of a top quark into an up-type quark (either up or charm) and a light scalar particle X decaying into a bottom anti-bottom quark pair is presented. The search focuses on top-quark pair production where one top quark decays to qX, with X → boverline{b} , and the other top quark decays according to the Standard Model, with the W boson decaying leptonically. The final state is thus characterised by an isolated electron or muon and at least four jets. Events are categorised according to the multiplicity of jets and jets tagged as originating from b-quarks, and a neural network is used to discriminate between signal and background processes. The data analysed correspond to 139 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The 95% confidence-level upper limits between 0.019% and 0.062% are derived for the branching fraction mathcal{B} (t → uX) and between 0.018% and 0.078% for the branching fraction mathcal{B} (t → cX), for masses of the scalar particle X between 20 and 160 GeV.

Search for CP violation in t overline{textrm{t}} H and tH production in multilepton channels in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV

The charge-parity (CP) structure of the Yukawa interaction between the Higgs (H) boson and the top quark is measured in a data sample enriched in the t overline{textrm{t}} H and tH associated production, using 138 fb−1 of data collected in proton-proton collisions at sqrt{s} = 13 TeV by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. The study targets events where the H boson decays via H → WW or H → ττ and the top quarks decay via t → Wb: the W bosons decay either leptonically or hadronically, and final states characterized by the presence of at least two leptons are studied. Machine learning techniques are applied to these final states to enhance the separation of CP -even from CP -odd scenarios. Two-dimensional confidence regions are set on κt and overset{sim }{kappa } t, which are respectively defined as the CP -even and CP -odd top-Higgs Yukawa coupling modifiers. No significant fractional CP -odd contributions, parameterized by the quantity | {f}_{CP}^{textrm{Htt}} | are observed; the parameter is determined to be | {f}_{CP}^{textrm{Htt}} | = 0.59 with an interval of (0.24, 0.81) at 68% confidence level. The results are combined with previous results covering the H → ZZ and H → γγ decay modes, yielding two- and one-dimensional confidence regions on κt and overset{sim }{kappa } t, while | {f}_{CP}^{textrm{Htt}} | is determined to be | {f}_{CP}^{textrm{Htt}} | = 0.28 with an interval of | {f}_{CP}^{textrm{Htt}} | < 0.55 at 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model CP -even prediction of | {f}_{CP}^{textrm{Htt}} | = 0.

A detailed study of interpretability of deep neural network based top taggers

Recent developments in the methods of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) allow researchers to explore the inner workings of deep neural networks (DNNs), revealing crucial information about input–output relationships and realizing how data connects with machine learning models. In this paper we explore interpretability of DNN models designed to identify jets coming from top quark decay in high energy proton–proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. We review a subset of existing top tagger models and explore different quantitative methods to identify which features play the most important roles in identifying the top jets. We also investigate how and why feature importance varies across different XAI metrics, how correlations among features impact their explainability, and how latent space representations encode information as well as correlate with physically meaningful quantities. Our studies uncover some major pitfalls of existing XAI methods and illustrate how they can be overcome to obtain consistent and meaningful interpretation of these models. We additionally illustrate the activity of hidden layers as neural activation pattern diagrams and demonstrate how they can be used to understand how DNNs relay information across the layers and how this understanding can help to make such models significantly simpler by allowing effective model reoptimization and hyperparameter tuning. These studies not only facilitate a methodological approach to interpreting models but also unveil new insights about what these models learn. Incorporating these observations into augmented model design, we propose the particle flow interaction network model and demonstrate how interpretability-inspired model augmentation can improve top tagging performance.