We present an update to the NNLL RG-improved QCD prediction of top-antitop production in electron-positron annihilation at threshold. It includes for the first time a complete NNLL resummation of ultrasoft logarithms, which are dominant at this order and give a sizable correction. The renormalization scale dependence of the total resonance cross section decreases substantially compared to earlier predictions, where the ultrasoft logarithms were included only partially.
We discuss the top-antitop production cross section near threshold at a future linear collider accounting for the NNLL QCD corrections to the anomalous dimension of the leading S-wave production current computed recently within renormalization-group-improved NRQCD perturbation theory. We argue that the still unknown soft NNLL mixing corrections are negligible so that the NNLL QCD corrections to the total cross section can be considered complete for practical purposes. Based on combined variations of the renormalization and matching scales and the overall size of the perturbative corrections we…
In this talk we present results of our recent calculations of cross sections and distributions for the associate production of top-antitop quark pairs with a heavy boson (Higgs, W, Z) at the LHC, obtained using threshold resummation in direct QCD, i.e. in the Mellin-space approach.
The $q_{\mathrm{T}}$ and $Δϕ_{t\bar{t}}$ spectra in top-antitop hadroproduction at NNLL+NNLO: the interplay of soft-collinear resummation and Coulomb singularities
We present results for the total top-pair production cross section at the Tevatron and the LHC. Our predictions supplement fixed-order results with resummation of soft logarithms and Coulomb singularities to next-to-next-to-leading (NNLL) logarithmic accuracy and include top-antitop bound-state effects. The effects of resummation, the dependence on the PDF set used, the residual sources of theoretical uncertainty and their implication for measurements of the top-quark mass are discussed.
In this talk electroweak corrections related to the finite top quark lifetime to the total top pair threshold e+e- cross section at NNLL order are discussed. We include the absorptive parts in electroweak matching conditions of the NRQCD operators related to the top decay and use the optical theorem. Gauge invariance is maintained. The corrections lead to ultraviolet phase space divergences and NLL mixing effects. The corrections can amount to several percent and are phenomenologically relevant.
We study the resummation of soft gluon emission corrections to the production of a top-antitop pair in association with a Z boson at the Large Hadron Collider to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. By means of an in-house parton level Monte Carlo code we evaluate the resummation formula for the total cross section and several differential distributions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, and we match these calculations to next-to-leading order results.
The transverse momentum distribution of the $t\bar{t}$ system is of both experimental and theoretical interest. In the presence of the azimuthally asymmetric divergences, pursuing the resummation at the high logarithmic precision is rather demanding in general. In this paper, we propose the projected transverse momentum spectrum $\mathrm{d}σ_{t\bar{t}}/\mathrm{d} q_τ$, which is derived from the classical $\vec{q}_{\mathrm{T}}$ spectrum by integrating out the rejection component $q_{τ_{\perp}}$ with respect to a reference unit vector $\vecτ$, to serve as an alternative resolution to curb those …
We present predictions for the total top-quark pair production cross section at the Tevatron and the LHC with 7,8 and 14 TeV centre-of-mass energy, including the resummation of threshold logarithms and Coulomb corrections through next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic order, and top-antitop bound-state contributions. The remaining theoretical and PDF uncertainties and prospects for the measurement of the top mass from the total cross section are discussed.
We study the resummation of soft gluon emission corrections to the production of a top-antitop pair in association with a Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider. Starting from a soft-gluon resummation formula derived in previous work, we develop a bespoke parton-level Monte Carlo program which can be used to calculate the total cross section along with differential distributions. We use this tool to study the phenomenological impact of the resummation to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy, finding that these corrections increase the total cross section and the differential d…
We perform threshold resummation of soft gluon corrections to the total cross sections and the invariant mass distributions for production of a top-antitop quark pair associated with a heavy electroweak boson $V = W^+$, $W^-$ or $Z$ in $pp$ collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. The resummation is carried out at next-to-next-to-leading-logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy using the direct QCD Mellin space technique in the three-particle invariant mass kinematics. It is found that for the $t\bar t Z$ process the soft gluon resummation introduces significant corrections to the next-to-leading order (NL…
I present approximate next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) top-quark transverse momentum, pT, distributions in t-channel single-top production. These distributions are derived from next-to-next-to-leading-logarithm (NNLL) soft-gluon resummation. Theoretical results for the single top as well as the single antitop pT distributions are shown for LHC and Tevatron energies.
I present recent NNLO-NNLL results for top quark hadroproduction at the Tevatron. The total cross section as well as transverse momentum and rapidity distributions are shown.
I present approximate next-to-next-to-leading-order (aNNLO) transverse-momentum ($p_T$) distributions in single-top production processes. The aNNLO results are derived from next-to-next-to-leading-logarithm (NNLL) resummation of soft-gluon corrections in the differential cross section. Single-top as well as single-antitop $p_T$ distributions are shown in $t$-channel, $s$-channel, and $tW$ production for LHC energies.
I present high-order calculations, including soft-gluon corrections, for single-top and top-antitop production cross sections and differential distributions. For single-top production, results are presented for the three different channels in the Standard Model, for associated production with a charged Higgs, and for processes involving anomalous couplings. For top-antitop pair production, total cross sections and top-quark transverse-momentum and rapidity distributions are presented for various LHC energies.
We present a determination of the strong coupling constant $α_s(m_Z)$ 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 $α_s(m_Z)$ 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…
To achieve reliable predictions of the top-antitop threshold cross section at a future e+e- Linear Collider logarithms of the top velocity need to be resummed. I review the issues that make this problem complicated and show how the task can be achieved by renormalization in an effective theory using the so called velocity renormalization group. The most recent NNLL order results are discussed.
We perform a model-independent study for top-antitop and top-top resonances in the dilepton channel at the Large Hadtron Collider. In this channel, we can solve the kinematic system to obtain the momenta of all particles including the two neutrinos, and hence the resonance mass and spin. For discovering top-antitop resonances, the dilepton channel is competitive to the semileptonic channel because of the good resolution of lepton momentum measurement and small standard model backgrounds. Moreover, the charges of the two leptons can be identified, which makes the dilepton channel advantageous f…
Recent measurements of the top quark charge asymmetry at Tevatron disfavor the existence of flavor universal axigluons and colorons at 2 sigmas. In this letter we explore the possibility to reconcile the data with these models and use the charge asymmetry and the invariant mass distribution of top-antitop quark pair events to constrain the mass and couplings of massive color-octet gauge bosons decaying to top quarks.
We report on a calculation of the effects of supersymmetry on the cross-section for top-antitop production at LHC. A numerical study is carried out for the ten benchmarks of the Snowmass accord. It is found that the higher order effects involving supersymmetric particles in internal loops can be as high as 6%, both for the cross-section and the (parity even) helicity asymmetry, for one particular benchmark. For other benchmarks smaller but nonetheless observable corrections are found.
The LHC is the perfect environment for the study of new physics in the top quark sector. We study the possibility of detecting signals of heavy color-octet vector resonances, through the charge asymmetry, in top-antitop+jet events. Besides contributions with the top-antitop pair in a color-singlet state, the asymmetry gets also contributions which are proportional to the color factor f_{abc}^2. This process is particularly interesting for extra-dimensional models, where the inclusive charge asymmetry generated by Kaluza-Klein excitations of the gluon vanishes at the tree level. We find that th…
The status of the theoretical predictions for the top-anti top production in hadronic collisions is shortly reviewed, paying a articular attention to the analytic calculation of the two-loop QCD corrections to the parton-level matrix elements.
The recent developments on the computation of non-resonant corrections to the e+ e- -> W+ W- b bbar cross section in the top-antitop resonance region are reviewed in this talk. Non-resonant production of the final state W+ W- b bbar starts to contribute at NLO in the nonrelativistic power-counting v ~ alpha_s ~ sqrt(alpha_EW). The corrections induced by non-resonant effects reduce the cross section in the top-antitop resonance peak region at a level which is comparable to the expected experimental precision at the future linear collider, and are thus relevant for a high-precision top mass and …
We study the kinematic distributions of top--antitop quark pairs produced at the Tevatron, including the effects of initial state and final state multiple soft gluon emission, using the Collins--Soper--Sterman resummation formalism. The resummed results are compared with those predicted by the showering event generator PYTHIA for various distributions involving the top--antitop quark pair and the individual top quark or antiquark. The comparison between the experimental and predicted distributions will be a strong test of our understanding and application of perturbative QCD. Our results indic…
I present a calculation of next-to-next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNNLO) soft-gluon corrections for top-antitop pair production in hadronic collisions. Approximate NNNLO (aNNNLO) results are obtained by adding the NNNLO soft-gluon corrections to the complete next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) cross section. Theoretical predictions are shown for the total aNNNLO $t{\bar t}$ cross section at LHC and Tevatron energies. The aNNNLO cross sections are larger but have smaller theoretical uncertainties than at NNLO.
The effects of the finite top quark width in the top pair production cross section close to the threshold are discussed in this talk. We introduce a $t\bar{t}$ cross section with a cut on the invariant masses of the top and antitop that can be calculated theoretically with effective field theory (EFT) methods. The matching procedure to implement the physical phase-space boundaries in the NRQCD framework (``phase-space matching'') is briefly outlined.
We consider two polarization asymmetries in the process of top-antitop production at LHC. We show that the theoretical predictions for these two quantities, at the strong and electroweak partonic one-loop level, are free of QCD and QED effects. At this perturbative level we derive two sum rules, that relate measurable quantities of top-antitop production to genuinely weak inputs. This would allow to perform two independent tests of the candidate theoretical model, with a precision that will be fixed by the future experimental accuracies of the different polarization measurements. A tentative q…
Muon colliders are expected to naturally have a small spread in beam energy making them an ideal place to study the excitation curve. We present the parameter determinations that are possible from measuring the total cross section near threshold at a $μ^+μ^-$ collider.
In this presentation we review recent results on the resummation of soft gluon emission corrections for the associated production of a top-quark pair with a heavy boson (Higgs/W/Z) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We develop a parton level Monte Carlo based on a soft-gluon resummation formula valid up to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy. With this tool we study the impact of the newly computed corrections to the total cross sections and some important differential distributions.
We study the sensitivity of top-antitop samples produced at all energy stages of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to the nature of an underlying Z' boson, in presence of full tree level standard model (SM) background effects and relative interferences. We concentrate on differential mass spectra as well as both spatial and spin asymmetries thereby demonstrating that exploiting combinations of these observables will enable one to distinguish between sequential Z's and those pertaining to Left-Right symmetric models as well as E6 inspired ones, assuming realistic final state reconstruction effici…
We present numerical calculations of the production cross section of a heavy Z' resonance in hadron-hadron collisions with subsequent decay into top-antitop pairs. In particular, we consider the leptophobic topcolor Z' discussed under Model IV of hep-ph/9911288 which has predicted cross sections large enough to be experimentally accessible at the Fermilab Tevatron and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. This article presents an updated calculation valid for the Tevatron and all proposed LHC collision energies. Cross sections are presented for various Z' widths, in p-pbar collisions at \sqrt{s}=…
We study the top quark pair production process p+p(anti-p)-->top+antitop in various kinds of technicolor (TC) models at the Fermilab Tevatron Run II and the CERN LHC. The s-channel neutral pseudo-Goldstone bosons (PGB's) contribute dominately to the production amplitudes from its coupling to the gluons through the triangle loops of techniquarks and the top quark. Cross sections in different TC models with s-channel PGB contributions are calculated. It is shown that the PGB effects can be experimentally tested and different TC models under consideration can be distinguished at the LHC. Therefor…
Quantum field theory near thresholds of ultra-heavy particles is considered. We focus especially on the top-antitop and the stop-antistop systems. The question of the possible large corrections due to a running width of the top quark could be solved in this work. It was shown that a previously not considered contribution gives rise to large cancellations and leads especially to a gauge independent result. With the help of a new zero order equation and a Ward identity it was further possible to derive a general therorem for bound state corrections to the width. Furthermore a systematic derivati…
I discuss threshold resummation at NNLL accuracy in the standard moment-space approach in perturbative QCD for top-pair and single-top production. For top quark pair production I present new approximate NNLO results for the total cross section and for the top quark transverse momentum and rapidity distributions at 8 TeV LHC energy. I discuss the accuracy of the soft-gluon approximation and show that the NLO and NNLO approximate results from resummation are practically indistinguishable from exact NLO and partial NNLO results. For single top production I present new approximate NNLO results for…
We compute the dominant term in the expansion in rho=1-M_W/m_t of the unknown next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) nonresonant contributions to the e+ e- -> W+ W- b bbar total cross section at energies close to the top-antitop threshold. Our analytic result disagrees with a previous calculation by other authors [1]. We show that our determination has the correct infrared structure needed to cancel the divergences proportional to the top width arising in the resonant production of the same final state, and we point out to a missing contribution in the computation of [1] to explain the discrepan…
We study the sensitivity of top pair production at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to the nature of an underlying Z' boson, including full tree level standard model background effects and interferences while assuming realistic final state reconstruction efficiencies. We demonstrate that exploiting asymmetry observables represents a promising way to distinguish between a selection of benchmark Z' models due to their unique dependences on the chiral couplings of the new gauge boson
We explore the sensitivity of the LHC at 14 TeV centre-of-mass energy (LHC14) to the single production and decay of top-antitop resonances in the four-top final state. We focus on the same-sign dilepton channel, and work within a simplified model with a vector boson coupling to the Standard Model only via its interactions with right-handed top quarks. We find it is possible to discover (exclude) such a vector boson with 300 fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity up to a mass of 1.2 (1.6) TeV for a modest coupling to tops of $g_ρ$=2. We present our results as an exclusion limit on the cross-section…
We present the calculation of scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs production in association with a top-antitop pair to the next-to-leading order (NLO) accuracy in QCD, interfaced with parton showers according to the MC@NLO formalism. We apply our results to the cases of light and very light Higgs boson production at the LHC, giving results for total rates as well as for sample differential distributions, relevant to the Higgs, to the top quarks, and to their decay products. This work constitutes the first phenomenological application of aMC@NLO, a fully automated approach to complete event generatio…
We compute the hadronic production of top-antitop pairs in association with a Higgs boson at next-to-leading-order QCD, including the decay of the top and antitop quark into bottom quarks and leptons. Our computation is based on full leading and next-to-leading-order matrix elements for $e^+ ν_e μ^-\barν_μb \bar{b} H(j)$ and includes all non-resonant contributions, off-shell effects and interferences. Numerical results for the integrated cross section and several differential distributions are given for the LHC operating at 13 TeV using a fixed and a dynamical factorization and renormalization…
We present the computation of the double real and real-virtual contributions to top-antitop pair production in the quark-antiquark channel at leading colour. The $q \bar q \to t \bar{t} g$ amplitudes contributing to the real-virtual part are computed with OpenLoops, and their numerical stability in the soft and collinear regions is found to be sufficiently high to perform a realistic NNLO calculation in double precision. The subtraction terms required at real-real and real-virtual levels are constructed within the antenna subtraction formalism extended to deal with the presence of coloured mas…
We study the effects of the complete supersymmetric QCD and electroweak one-loop corrections to the ttbar forward-backward asymmetry at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. We work in the complex Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), only restricted by the condition of minimal flavor violation (MFV). We perform a comprehensive scan over the relevant parameter space of the complex MFV-MSSM and determine the maximal possible contributions of these MSSM loop corrections to the forward-backward asymmetry in the ttbar center-of-mass frame.
The process e+e- -> Htt can be exploited at future Linear Colliders to measure the Higgs-top Yukawa coupling. In this note, we estimate the size of the irreducible backgrounds in the channel Htt -> bbbb WW -> bbbb ln qq, for the case of a Standard Model Higgs boson with mass between 100 and 140 GeV.
We consider the top-antitop invariant mass distributions for production of unpolarized and polarized top quark pairs at LHC, in the theoretical framework of the MSSM. Assuming a "moderately" light SUSY scenario, we derive the leading logarithmic electroweak contributions at one loop in a region of large invariant mass, $M_{t\bar t}\simeq1$ TeV, for the unpolarized differential cross section $dσ/dM_{t\bar t}$ and for the differential longitudinal top polarization asymmetry $A_t(M_{t\bar t})$. We perform a realistic evaluation of the expected uncertainties of the two quantities, both from a theo…
We have analyzed the available data on $p\bar{p}\,\rightarrow\, t\, \bar{t}$ followed by the decays ($t\rightarrow bW^{+},\: \bar{t}\rightarrow \bar{b}W^{-}$) which lead to $e^{\pm}μ^{\mp}2 \mathrm{jets}$ or $l^{\pm}4 \mathrm{jets}$ configurations, using a likelihood method we proposed earlier. The outcome is compared with the recent CDF analysis. In an appendix, we discuss the nature of the additional ``slow'' $μ^{+}$ observed in one CDF dilepton event, concluding that it is most probably a ``tertiary lepton'' resulting from the decay sequence $b\rightarrow c +\mathrm{hadrons}$, followed by $…
We present the QCD radiative corrections to the full off-shell $\rm t\bar{t}W^+$ production, considering a final state with three charged leptons, two b jets and missing energy. All interferences, off-shell effects and spin correlations are included in the calculation. Beyond presenting integrated and differential results for the full off-shell process, we compare them with those obtained applying a double-pole approximation to the virtual corrections.
We present theoretical predictions for selected differential cross sections for the process $pp \to t \bar{t} B$ at the LHC, where $B$ can be a Higgs ($H$), a $Z$ or a $W$ boson. The predictions are calculated in the direct QCD framework up to the next-to-next-leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy and matched to the complete NLO results including QCD and electroweak effects. Additionally, results for the total cross sections are provided. The calculations deliver a significant improvement of the theoretical predictions, especially for the $t \bar{t} H$ and the $t \bar{t} Z$ production. In these …
The production of top-antitop pairs at the Fermilab Tevatron shows a forward-backward asymmetry in which the top quark tends to follow the proton direction, while the antitop tends to follow the antiproton direction. The effect grows with increasing effective mass $m_{t \bar t}$ of the top-antitop pair, and with increasing rapidity difference between the top and antitop. The observed effect is about three times as large as predicted by next-to-leading-order QCD, but with the same sign. An estimate of non-factorizable effects based on a QCD string picture finds they are negligible, but that sma…
We present details of a calculation of the cross section for hadronic top-antitop production in next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD, including the decays of the top and antitop into bottom quarks and leptons. This calculation is based on matrix elements for νe e+ μ- \barν_μb\bar{b} production and includes all non-resonant diagrams, interferences, and off-shell effects of the top quarks. Such contributions are formally suppressed by the top-quark width and turn out to be small in the inclusive cross section. However, they can be strongly enhanced in exclusive observables that play an important role…
I present a calculation of approximate N$^3$LO corrections from NNLL soft-gluon resummation for differential distributions in top-antitop pair production in hadronic collisions. Soft-gluon corrections are the dominant contribution to top-quark production and closely approximate exact results through NNLO. I show aN$^3$LO results for the total $t{\bar t}$ cross section, the top-quark $p_T$ and rapidity distributions, and the top-quark forward-backward asymmetry. The higher-order corrections are significant and they reduce theoretical uncertainties.
In the Randall-Sundrum model, we study top-antitop pair production and top spin correlations at the Large Hadron Collider. In addition to the Standard Model processes, there is a new contribution to the top-antitop pair production process mediated by graviton Kaluza-Klein modes in the s-channel. We calculate the density matrix for the top-antitop pair production including the new contribution. With a reasonable parameter choice in the Randall-Sundrum model, we find a sizable deviation of the top-antitop pair production cross section and the top spin correlations from those in the Standard Mode…
This work studies the associated production of a top-quark pair with a $W$, $Z$, or Higgs boson at the LHC. Predictions for the total cross sections as well as for several differential distributions of the massive particles in the final state are provided. These predictions, valid for the LHC operating at $13$ TeV, include without any approximation all the NLO electroweak and QCD contributions of $\mathcal{O}(α_s^{i} α^{j+1})$ with $i+j=2,3$. In addition, the predictions presented here improve upon the NLO QCD results by adding the effects of soft gluon emission corrections resummed to next-to…
We re-examine the question of a possible difference in the partial decay widths of $t$ and $\overline t$, induced by an intermediate scalar boson $H^+$ with $CP$-violating couplings. The interference of $W^+$ and $H^+$ exchanges is analysed by constructing the $2\times 2$ propagator matrix of the $W^+-H^+$ system, and determining its absorptive part in terms of fermion loops. Results are obtained for the partial rate difference in the channels $t\to bl^+ν_l $ and $t\to bc\overline s$, which fulfil explicitly the constraints of $CPT$ invariance. These results are contrasted with those in previo…
We calculate purely weak virtual one-loop corrections to the production cross section of top-antitop pairs at the Large Hadron Collider via the gluon-gluon fusion subprocess. We find very small negative corrections to the total cross section, of order -0.6%, but significantly larger effects to the differential one, particularly in the transverse momentum distribution, of order -5% to -10% (in observable regions). In case of parity-conserving spin-asymmetries of the final state, $α_{\mathrm{S}}^2α_{\mathrm{W}}$ corrections are typically of a few negative percent, with the exception of positive …
We study the top pair production cross section at the LHC in the context of Randall-Sundrum model including the Kaluza-Klein (KK) excited gravitons. It is shown that the recent measurement of the cross section of this process at the LHC restricts the parameter space in Randall-Sundrum (RS) model considerably. We show that the coupling parameter ($\frac{k}{\bar{M}_{pl}}$) is excluded by this measurement from 0.03 to 0.22 depending on the mass of first KK excited graviton ($m_1$). We also study the effect of KK excitations on the spin correlation of the top pairs. It is shown that the spin asymm…
A brief summary of the calculation of the NLO QCD corrections to the process pp -> e+ ve mu- v_mu bb~ j + X is reported. This provides a complete description of the process of t-tbar + jet production with leptonic decays beyond the narrow-width approximation. Off-shell effects for top quarks and W boson decays are fully taken into account, namely all resonant and non-resonant contributions are included in the fixed-order calculation. Selected results for total and differential cross sections are shown for the case of the LHC Run I at the energy of 8 TeV.
We study top-(anti)quark pair production at the Tevatron and Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in the context of the Minimal Length Scenario (MLS) of the Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos and Dvali (ADD) model of extra dimensions (XDs). We show that sizable effects onto both the integrated and differential cross section due to graviton mediation are expected for a String scale, M_S, of O(1-10TeV) and several XDs, δ, all compatible with current experimental constraints. Potential limits on M_S are extracted. We also highlight clear phenomenological differences between a simple ADD scenario and its modificatio…
Using non-relativistic effective theories, new next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the total $t\bar t$ production cross section at the Linear Collider have been calculated recently. In this article the NNLO calculations of several groups are compared and the remaining uncertainties are discussed. The theoretical prospects for an accurate determination of top quark mass parameters are discussed in detail. An outlook on possible future improvements is given.
I present the latest calculations of total and differential cross sections for top-antitop pair production and single top quark production via all main partonic channels. Higher-order corrections from the resummation of soft gluons are added through NNLL accuracy. Detailed numerical results are presented for approximate NNLO cross sections and top quark transverse momentum distributions at the Tevatron and LHC colliders.
Copious production of top-antitop quark pairs at hadron colliders has enabled various probes into the properties and interactions of top quarks. Among the various presently measured observables, the forward-backward asymmetry (FBA) in t tbar production measured at the Tevatron significantly deviates from the standard model predictions, and many models of new physics have been invented to explain the puzzle. We consider the consistency of the simplified single-resonance models containing a color octet axial-vector ("axigluon"), color triplet or sextet weak singlet scalars, weak isodoublet scala…
