Top Quark Pair Production Cross-section Research Articles

Probing initial state effects in nuclear collisions via jet and top-quark measurements with the ATLAS detector

Proton-lead collisions at the Large Hadron Collider energies offer a unique possibility to investigate initial state effects in nuclear collisions. Thanks to its wide acceptance, ATLAS can measure several probes that can help characterise these effects over a wide kinematic range. By analyzing the centrality dependence of dijet production, it is possible to investigate the suppression of dijet events in central collisions compared to peripheral ones and correlate it to the kinematic of the parton-parton scattering, accessible via the measurement of both jets in the final state. Also, the first measurement of the inclusive crosssection for top-quark pair production in dilepton and lepton+jet decay modes is reported. This process is sensitive to effects at high Bjorken-x values, which are hard to access experimentally using other available probes, and thus provides complementary information on the behavior of nuclear parton densities. In 2016, the ATLAS experiment collected 165 nb−1 of proton-lead collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8.16 TeV per nucleon pair. In this article, new measurements of the centrality dependence of dijet production and the observation of top-quark pair production using this dataset are presented.

Combination of inclusive top-quark pair production cross-section measurements using ATLAS and CMS data at sqrt{s} = 7 and 8 TeV

A combination of measurements of the inclusive top-quark pair production cross-section performed by ATLAS and CMS in proton–proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV at the LHC is presented. The cross-sections are obtained using top-quark pair decays with an opposite-charge electron–muon pair in the final state and with data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 5 fb−1 at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV and about 20 fb−1 at sqrt{s} = 8 TeV for each experiment. The combined cross-sections are determined to be 178.5 ± 4.7 pb at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV and {243.3}_{-5.9}^{+6.0} pb at sqrt{s} = 8 TeV with a correlation of 0.41, using a reference top-quark mass value of 172.5 GeV. The ratio of the combined cross-sections is determined to be R8/7 = 1.363 ± 0.032. The combined measured cross-sections and their ratio agree well with theory calculations using several parton distribution function (PDF) sets. The values of the top-quark pole mass (with the strong coupling fixed at 0.118) and the strong coupling (with the top-quark pole mass fixed at 172.5 GeV) are extracted from the combined results by fitting a next-to-next-to-leading-order plus next-to-next-to-leading-log QCD prediction to the measurements. Using a version of the NNPDF3.1 PDF set containing no top-quark measurements, the results obtained are {m}_t^{textrm{pole}}={173.4}_{-2.0}^{+1.8} GeV and {alpha}_{textrm{s}}left({m}_Zright)={0.1170}_{-0.0018}^{+0.0021} .

Inclusive and differential cross-sections for dilepton toverline{t} production measured in sqrt{s} = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

Differential and double-differential distributions of kinematic variables of leptons from decays of top-quark pairs ( toverline{t} ) are measured using the full LHC Run 2 data sample collected with the ATLAS detector. The data were collected at a pp collision energy of sqrt{s} = 13 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. The measurements use events containing an oppositely charged eμ pair and b-tagged jets. The results are compared with predictions from several Monte Carlo generators. While no prediction is found to be consistent with all distributions, a better agreement with measurements of the lepton pT distributions is obtained by reweighting the toverline{t} sample so as to reproduce the top-quark pT distribution from an NNLO calculation. The inclusive top-quark pair production cross-section is measured as well, both in a fiducial region and in the full phase-space. The total inclusive cross-section is found to beσtt¯=829±1stat±13syst±8lumi±2beampb,\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\sigma}_{t\\overline{t}}=829\\pm 1\\ \\left(\ extrm{stat}\\right)\\pm 13\\ \\left(\ extrm{syst}\\right)\\pm 8\\ \\left(\ extrm{lumi}\\right)\\pm 2\\ \\left(\ extrm{beam}\\right)\\ \ extrm{pb}, $$\\end{document}where the uncertainties are due to statistics, systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the beam energy. This is in excellent agreement with the theoretical expectation.

Measurement of the toverline{t} production cross-section in pp collisions at sqrt{s} = 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive top-quark pair ( toverline{t} ) production cross-section {sigma}_{toverline{t}} is measured in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy sqrt{s} = 5.02 TeV, using 257 pb−1 of data collected in 2017 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The toverline{t} cross-section is measured in both the dilepton and single-lepton final states of the toverline{t} system and then combined. The combination of the two measurements yieldsσtt¯=67.5±0.9stat.±2.3syst.±1.1lumi.±0.2beampb,\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ {\\sigma}_{t\\overline{t}}=67.5\\pm 0.9\\left(\ extrm{stat}.\\right)\\pm 2.3\\left(\ extrm{syst}.\\right)\\pm 1.1\\left(\ extrm{lumi}.\\right)\\pm 0.2\\left(\ extrm{beam}\\right)\ extrm{pb}, $$\\end{document}where the four uncertainties reflect the limited size of the data sample, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, and imperfect knowledge of both the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total uncertainty of 3.9%. The result is in agreement with theoretical quantum chromodynamic calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant, including the resummation of next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic soft-gluon terms, and constrains the parton distribution functions of the proton at large Bjorken-x.

Signatures of toponium formation in LHC run 2 data

We study reported deviations between observations and theoretical predictions associated with the production of a pair of di-leptonically decaying top quarks at the LHC, and we examine the possibility that they reflect a signal of toponium formation. We investigate the production by gluon fusion of a color-singlet spin-0 toponium $\eta_t$ bound state of a top and anti-top quark, that then decays di-leptonically ($gg\to\eta_t \to \bar\ell \ell b \bar{b} \nu \bar{\nu}$). We find strong correlations favoring the production of di-lepton systems featuring a small angular separation in azimuth and a small invariant mass. Although toponium production only contributes to 0.8% of the total top-quark pair-production cross section at the 13 TeV LHC, there is a possibility that it can account for observed excesses in the narrow edges of phase space. We propose a method to discover toponium formation by `reconstructing' both its top and anti-top quark constituents in the di-lepton channel.

Top quark physics with the ATLAS detector: recent highlights

The top quark is the heaviest known fundamental particle. As it is the only quark that decays without hadronisation, it provides the unique opportunity to probe the properties of bare quarks at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This article will present highlights of a few recent precision measurements of the top quark using 13 TeV collision data with the ATLAS experiment. Top-quark pair and single top production cross sections, including differential distributions and production in association with bosons, will be presented alongside top quark properties measurements. Measurements of the top-quark mass and searches for rare top decays are also presented.

Searching for top quark pair production cross-section at LHeC and FCC-eh

The deep inelastic scattering mode of pair production at the proposed LHeC and FCC-eh is considered. We present a method to extract the top reduced cross-section related to the transversal structure function F2(x, Q2) parameterization. Numerical calculations with known kinematics of the LHeC and FCC-eh colliders are presented. The results obtained for charm and beauty pair production are comparable with the experimental data. We show that for a wide range of the momentum transfer into the top quark pair, the reduced cross-section is well described by center-of-mass energies.

Measurement of the tbar{t} production cross-section and lepton differential distributions in emu dilepton events from pp collisions at sqrt{s}=13,text {TeV} with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive top quark pair (tbar{t}) production cross-section sigma _{tbar{t}} has been measured in proton–proton collisions at sqrt{s}=13,text {TeV}, using 36.1 fb^{-1} of data collected in 2015–2016 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Using events with an opposite-charge emu pair and b-tagged jets, the cross-section is measured to be: σtt¯=826.4±3.6(stat)±11.5(syst)±15.7(lumi)±1.9(beam)pb,\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\t\t\t\t\\usepackage{amsmath}\t\t\t\t\\usepackage{wasysym}\t\t\t\t\\usepackage{amsfonts}\t\t\t\t\\usepackage{amssymb}\t\t\t\t\\usepackage{amsbsy}\t\t\t\t\\usepackage{mathrsfs}\t\t\t\t\\usepackage{upgreek}\t\t\t\t\\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\t\t\t\t\\begin{document}$$\\begin{aligned} \\sigma _{t\\bar{t}} = 826.4 \\pm 3.6\\,\\mathrm {(stat)}\\ \\pm 11.5\\,\\mathrm {(syst)}\\ \\pm 15.7\\,\\mathrm {(lumi)}\\ \\pm 1.9\\,\\mathrm {(beam)}\\,\\mathrm {pb}, \\end{aligned}$$\\end{document}where the uncertainties reflect the limited size of the data sample, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity, and the LHC beam energy, giving a total uncertainty of 2.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. It is used to determine the top quark pole mass via the dependence of the predicted cross-section on m_t^{mathrm{pole}}, giving m_t^{mathrm{pole}}=173.1^{+2.0}_{-2.1},text {GeV}. It is also combined with measurements at sqrt{s}=7,text {TeV} and sqrt{s}=8,text {TeV} to derive ratios and double ratios of tbar{t} and Z cross-sections at different energies. The same event sample is used to measure absolute and normalised differential cross-sections as functions of single-lepton and dilepton kinematic variables, and the results are compared with predictions from various Monte Carlo event generators.

Impact of the top quark cross-section data on parton distribution functions

Recent measurements of top quark pair production cross-section, which is performed at the LHC and the Tevatron collider, are studied using Hessian profiling technique to obtain their impact on the parton distribution functions (PDFs). The top quark production data covers different center-of-mass energies [Formula: see text], 5.02, 7, 8 and 13 TeV in either [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text] collisions. It is explained how the Hessian profiling method may be used to assess the impact of these new data on PDFs and consequently on their predictions. In this research, the impact of recent measurements of top quark pair cross-sections on different CT14, MMHT2014 and NNPDF3.0 PDF sets is investigated. The analysis results show that the recent top quark production at the LHC and Tevatron data provide significant constraints in particular on the central value, relative uncertainties or both for the [Formula: see text]-quark distribution and the gluon PDFs in both CT14 and MMHT2014 PDF sets and are insensitive to valence-quark PDFs. A small constraint on the [Formula: see text]-sea quark distribution for CT14 PDF is also observed. There is no impact on the NNPDF3.0 PDF set in presence of these data.

Proton PDFs constraints from measurements using the ATLAS experiment

High-precision measurements of Standard Model (SM) processes provide information on different aspects contributing to the process, such as parton distribution functions (PDFs), and comparisons with the current precision reached theoretically on the calculations of the cross sections of such processes. This document describes ATLAS measurements, performed at different centre-of-mass energies, of vector boson (W and Z) cross sections and cross-section ratios. It also discusses measurements of ratios of Z-boson and top-quark pair production cross sections, which provide important information on the proton PDFs. Finally, a measurement involving the di-lepton decay channel of top-quark pairs at 8 TeV is presented, because of its direct sensitivity to the gluon PDF.

Measurements of top quark production cross-section at ATLAS

Measurements of the inclusive and differential cross-sections for top quark pair and single top production cross-sections in proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are presented at centre-of-mass energies of 8 TeV and 13 TeV. These measurements reach high precision and are compared to the best available theoretical calculations. The differential measurements, including results using boosted topology, probe our understanding of top quark pair production in the TeV regime. Measurements of top-quark pair with additional jets enable the study of effect of gluon radiation, especially the measurement with additional heavy flavour jets provides test of multi-scale QCD calculation. The first evidence of single top quark production in the s-channel is quoted. Interference of top quark pair and single top productions is investigated, and the single top production cross-section in association with a Z boson is measured. Measurements of the properties of the Wtb vertex in single top quark production allow to set limits on anomalous couplings.

Polarized double-virtual amplitudes for heavy-quark pair production

We present the two-loop virtual amplitudes for heavy-quark pair production in light quark-antiquark annihilation and gluon fusion channels, including full spin and color dependence. We use expansions around kinematical limits and numerical integration to obtain results for the involved master integrals. From these, we determine the renormalised infrared finite remainders of the coefficients of amplitude decompositions in terms of color and spin structures. The remainders are given in form of numerical interpolation grids supported by expansions around the production threshold and the high energy limit. Finally, we provide the spin density matrix, which encodes the heavy-quark spin correlations and is sufficient for phenomenological applications. Our results are necessary for the derivation of top-quark pair production cross sections in hadron collisions in the narrow width approximation with next-to-next-to-leading order accuracy in QCD.

Soft-gluon and Coulomb corrections to hadronic top-quark pair production beyond NNLO

We construct a resummation at partial next-to-next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy for hadronic top-quark pair production near partonic threshold, including simultaneously soft-gluon and Coulomb corrections, and use this result to obtain approximate next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order predictions for the total top-quark pair-production cross section at the LHC. We generalize a required one-loop potential in non-relativistic QCD to the colour-octet case and estimate the remaining unknown twoloop potentials and three-loop anomalous dimensions. We obtain a moderate correction of 1.5% relative to the next-to-next-to-leading order prediction and observe a reduction of the perturbative uncertainty below ±5%.

αs from top-quark pair production at hadron colliders

The strong coupling constant αs(MZ) is determined using inclusive top-quark pair production cross section measurements performed at the LHC and at the Tevatron. Individual values of αs(MZ) are extracted from measurements of different experiments at several centre-of-mass energies, using QCD predictions complete in NNLO perturbation theory, supplemented with NNLL approximations to all orders, and suitable sets of parton distribution functions. These values are then combined using a likelyhood-based approach, with special emphasis on a consistent treatment of systemtic uncertainties and their correlations. The final combined result is αs(MZ)=0.1177−0.0036+0.0034.

Top Quark Production Cross Section Measurements

Measurements of the inclusive and differential cross-sections for top-quark pair and single top production cross sections in proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are presented at centre-of-mass energies of 8 TeV and 13 TeV.The inclusive measurements reach high precision and are compared to the best available theoretical calculations. These measurements, including results using boosted tops, probe our understanding of top-pair production in the TeV regime. The results are compared to Monte Carlo generators implementing LO and NLO matrix elements matched with parton showers and NLO QCD calculations.For the t-channel single top measurement, the single top-quark and anti-top-quark total production cross-sections, their ratio, as well as differential cross sections are also presented. A measurement of the production cross section of a single top quark in association with a W boson, the second largest single-top production mode, is also presented. Finally, measurements of the properties of the Wtb vertex allow to set limits on anomalous couplings. All measurements are compared to state-of-the-art theoretical calculations.

Top quark measurements at ATLAS

The top quark is the heaviest known fundamental particle. As it is the only quark that decays before it hadronizes, it allows us to probe the properties of bare quarks at the Large Hadron Collider. Highlights of a few recent precision measurements by the ATLAS Collaboration of the top quark using 13 TeV and 8 TeV collision data will be presented: top-quark pair and single top production cross sections including differential distributions will be presented alongside measurements of top-quark properties, including results using boosted top quarks, probe our understanding of top-quark production in the TeV regime. Measurements of the top-quark mass and searches for rare top quark decays are also presented.

Determination of the strong coupling constant alpha _s left( m_Z right) from measurements of the total cross section for top\u2013antitop-quark production

We present a determination of the strong coupling constant alpha _s left( m_Z right) using inclusive top-quark pair production cross section measurements performed at the LHC and at the Tevatron. Following a procedure first applied by the CMS Collaboration, we extract individual values of alpha _s left( m_Z right) from measurements by different experiments at several centre-of-mass energies, using QCD predictions complete in NNLO perturbation theory, supplemented with NNLL approximations to all orders, and suitable sets of parton distribution functions. The determinations are then combined using a likelihood-based approach, where special emphasis is put on a consistent treatment of theoretical uncertainties and of correlations between various sources of systematic uncertainties. Our final combined result is alpha _s left( m_Z right) =0.1177^{+0.0034{}}_{-0.0036{}}.

Measurements of top-quark pair differential cross-sections in the lepton+jets channel in pp collisions at sqrt{s}=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

Measurements of differential cross-sections of top-quark pair production in fiducial phase-spaces are presented as a function of top-quark and toverline{t} system kinematic observables in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt{s}=13 TeV. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb−1, recorded in 2015 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Events with exactly one electron or muon and at least two jets in the final state are used for the measurement. Two separate selections are applied that each focus on different top-quark momentum regions, referred to as resolved and boosted topologies of the toverline{t} final state. The measured spectra are corrected for detector effects and are compared to several Monte Carlo simulations by means of calculated χ2 and p-values.

Measurement of jet activity produced in top-quark events with an electron, a muon and two b-tagged jets in the final state in pp collisions at sqrt{s}=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Measurements of jet activity in top-quark pair events produced in proton–proton collisions are presented, using 3.2 fb^{-1} of pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are chosen by requiring an opposite-charge emu pair and two b-tagged jets in the final state. The normalised differential cross-sections of top-quark pair production are presented as functions of additional-jet multiplicity and transverse momentum, p_{text {T}}. The fraction of signal events that do not contain additional jet activity in a given rapidity region, the gap fraction, is measured as a function of the p_{text {T}} threshold for additional jets, and is also presented for different invariant mass regions of the emu bbar{b} system. All measurements are corrected for detector effects and presented as particle-level distributions compared to predictions with different theoretical approaches for QCD radiation. While the kinematics of the jets from top-quark decays are described well, the generators show differing levels of agreement with the measurements of observables that depend on the production of additional jets.

Top quark production measurements using the ATLAS detector at the LHC

A selection from the inclusive top-quark pair production and single top-quark production cross-section measurements in proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is presented, with data collected in 2012 and early 2015 at centre-of-mass energies of 8 TeV and 13 TeV, respectively.